A tour de France

On January 1,earlier this year,Zaheer sat in the dressing room during the Mumbai-Gujarat Ranji Trophy game nursing a calf strain. Injuries are a known devil for the pacer but that hasnt made the fight to overcome them any easier. Thanks to groin niggles,dodgy hamstrings,shoulder and ankle surgeries or even several slow,long rehabilitation stints abroad,Zaheer has spent more time with physios,trainers and doctors than coaches or his teammates.

At 34,he has sat out one-fourth of the Tests India have played in the last six years. The year has seen Zaheer miss the Test series against Australia at home,most of IPL 6 because of a side strain and,later,the England-bound plane with the Champions Trophy squad on it.

It was during this low period that he met Sudhir Naik,his old coach from his early days on the Mumbai maidans. We met several times after the IPL and I found Zaheer unusually subdued, recalls Naik. Just to get him talking,the 68-year-old coach reminded his favourite pupil of an old conversation. Three years back,Zaheer had told me that he wanted to finish with 100-plus Tests. I asked him if he had scaled down his ambitions now. He didnt say a word but gave a slight but stubborn shake of the head.

Within days,Naik would get a call from his star ward from the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore,informing him that he had taken a giant stride on the road to recovery. He was now bowling full tilt. The next phone call,a couple of weeks later,wasnt a routine FYI update. It was to share his address for the coming six weeks. Rue Louis Rodas,Parc dEntreprises Brive Ouest,19100,Brive la Gaillarde,Naik was to note. He sounded quite excited about the trip, says Naik.

To the journalists who caught up with him in Mumbai before he took off,Zaheer was vague about his whereabouts. Barely registering the usual complaints of not taking calls and constantly changing his phone numbers,Team Indias most-enigmatic,least-interviewed member said: I am going underground, with another of those stubborn shakes of his head.

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Giving him company on this less-traveled path was his old mate Yuvraj Singh,who too wasnt having a great 2013. In the 7 ODIs he played in January,Yuvraj had one 50 and a couple of 30s. His return to the India team,post-cancer treatment,was applauded at all stadiums. But gradually,the failures started triggering whispers about his fitness.

Largely unaffected,Yuvraj would laugh off the snide remarks aimed at him. I am fitter in 2013 than I was in 2011, he would tell his friends,referring to his Man of the Tournament-winning efforts at the World Cup and the discomfort of the golf-ball size lump over his left lung.

Eventually,he got dropped from the ODI squad. Now,Yuvraj turned up for Punjab and continued the monstrous run-scoring spree that had seen him get an international recall. But a slight niggle before the IPL saw Team Yuvi go into a huddle. Feelers were sent around the world to find a training facility that would help the 31-year-old turn back the clock. Slightly reluctant initially,Yuvraj one day decided to take the fitness issue head on.

During those tough days after his cancer detection,Yuvraj had come up with a simple way of dealing with complex decisions. Jo karna hai,woh karna hai (What youve got to do,youve got to do), he would say to get over the dilemma. He was doing the same again. Several centres were short-listed but,eventually,Brive la Gaillarde it was to be.

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Zak and Yuvi,both fit,but one carrying injury scars and the other with illness trauma,were to surface in a city,or rather a commune,in southern France,conveniently well-connected by major autoroutes yet refreshingly disconnected to the clutter of the outside world. It was an ideal world for Indias megastars,who for once were taking a break not because of the compulsion of nursing an injury or undergoing rehab. Here they were walking the extra mile to sharpen their skills and become better players.

After driving down to Brive la Gaillarde,the two headed to a modest home where a father of four,along with his wife,had laid out a Welcome to Hell reception for them. In the weeks to come,the cricketers were to understand the thought behind the welcome.

Tim Exeter,a 48-year-old Scot who insists he isnt French,is a one-time rugby international who is now in charge of a high-profile sweatshop which prides itself on enhancing sporting skills of several top athletes and minimising injuries.

He achieves these goals through innovative training methods. Very early in the conversation,it is clear that Exeter is allergic to using modern-day training mumbo-jumbo. He doesnt promise a wondrous visible physical transformation through some miraculously effective fad diet.

The first thing Yuvraj and Zaheer noticed about Exeters gym was that it was very low on equipment. It was littered with loose weights of several shapes and different holds,and ropes resembling giant anacondas hung from the ceiling or lay strewn all around.

Rugby players used these to haul themselves to the ceiling; for the cricketers,the challenge of lifting themselves off the floor was enough. A couple of bikes and a few baby hurdles,used for running drills,completed the spacious indoor facility. Pilates and cricket-specific drills were also part of the routine,but most of their other action was to take place in the fresh air of an unusually harsh French summer. Beaches,rivers,hills and the countryside is where the duo stretched their sinews in the hope of looking good once they were back playing their sport.

Exeter,his wards say,isnt a hard taskmaster. I am no Sergeant General. I wouldnt push the athletes to go flat out on day one. That will just get quick results but it wouldnt make lasting changes, he says. It is this approach that caused Yuvraj and Zaheer to exchange quizzical glances during the first week. This is very easy. Is this what we came here for? They had that kind of expression on their faces, recalls Exeter.

But soon the two were panting for breath doing things they had never done before,discussing issues that had never been touched upon and experiencing an exhilarating change they had never felt.

Before taking in athletes,I do proper tests and that helps me understand the workload they can take, Exeter says. Later,he mentions that he is considerate to the objections and reservations of his wards. It is they who are feeling the impact of my training and not me.

Central to Exeters training programme is the aim to enhance the core strength and core stability of the athletes. By core,I dont just mean the abdomen. For me the core also includes glutes,hip and moving up right till the shoulder, he says. He goes on add that for a pacer like Zaheer,whose action needs explosive power and puts a lot of stress on his body,the core is of prime importance.

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Back in 2006,when Zaheer returned to the Indian team after a successful county stint in England,he had modified his action. The curtailed jump before release reduced his speed but increased his accuracy. Through a series of drills focused on specific muscle groups,Exeter was focused on giving Zaheers much-stressed ankle more strength and stability when it lands on the crease. Drawing from his experience of working with baseball players,he also put the pacers arm movement under the scanner to try and increase his speed. After about four weeks of drills,Zak was bowling to me with a tennis ball. Thats when Yuvi too came around. He was really surprised with the speed of the ball shooting out of Zaheers hand, says Exeter.

The innovative regime at Metasports Systems,which is what the facility is called,is a departure from age-old training methods. Here endurance running,the old-school coachs favourite instruction,is looked down upon. Its a thoughtless exercise as it doesnt help in a real game situation. And the monotony of the long run can also see players form bad habits. In cricket,while running between the wickets or fielding,what is needed is a sprint and that needs more explosive power, says Exeter.

For Yuvraj the French sojourn has been a self-discovery of sorts. His leg,which was so used to being in a cast,has grown stronger. Exeter has worked on his sprinting technique and says that it has added wheels to the cricketers feet. The other day Yuvraj wanted to go all out but I advised him to avoid it, he says. A French rugby player,who has been training with the cricketers and is on back-slapping terms with them,couldnt resist ribbing Yuvraj. This morning I see Usain Bolt,he runs very fast, he says.

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The impact of the hard yards is gradually being reflected on the physiques of the cricketers. Exeters wife had been away for a couple of weeks and on return was pleasantly surprised to see a leaner Zaheer. Zak has lost about 4 kgs but more importantly he has improved his stability and stamina. He can now bowl all day as is needed in a Test match, says the satisfied trainer.

Away from their comfort zone,the two pampered stars seem to be enjoying the Spartan surrounding of the French countryside. They stay as paying guests at a modest place and cycle 8 to 10km every day to their workstation. This certainly isnt a party town but the boys do have fun, Exeter says.

Yuvrajs pranks keep everybody smiling despite the exhaustion. The Exeter family is also bonding well with the visitors from India.

Meg,the baby of the family,has developed a fondness for Yuvraj. In the first week,when the two came home,they got ice-cream for my little daughter. And now all the time I get asked by her,When are Zak and Yuvi coming home, Exeter says. In what was to be a Hell,the Exeters have come as angels for Yuvi and Zak.