Shanker Basu, the man responsible for the fitness transformation of the national team, feels India and RCB skipper Virat Kohli has returned from the long break an even fitter athlete after working on “specific physical pointers” that needed attention.

Kohli was stuck in Mumbai for five months owing to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and had his first proper hit in the nets only after his arrival in the UAE for the Indian Premier League, beginning September 19.

However, he ensured during the break that his supreme fitness level was not impacted and, in fact, it helped him skill-wise on his return to action.

“He (Kohli) has come back in much better shape. He is at his best weight at the moment and his movement patterns are pretty much in sync with his best self in the past,” former India trainer Basu, who is now the strength and conditioning coach of RCB, said from Dubai.

“He has taken this break as an opportunity to work on all the pointers which needed attention from a physical point. I guess his motto to life is ‘Bear the cross and wear the crown’,” said the man who worked with the Indian team from 2015 to 2019.

He has worked extensively with Kohli, both at RCB and during his time with the Indian team. Basu said Kohli was able to work on things which an international cricketer finds it difficult to do in a packed calendar.

“He had the time to be very specific with his meal plans and running intervals at home. He did not have much of a choice during the lockdown and he invested on a treadmill and worked on his endurance, which is otherwise not possible during a packed calendar.

“For ground reaction forces every now and then, he did shuttle running in his apartment. Apart from that, his customised strength work to compliment that was his mantra during the lockdown. So a combination of running and strength work and he kept it simple by just following this to the T,” said Basu.

The RCB squad has been training for a week now and Basu said it is only a matter of time before the players are match ready.

“With regards to assessing a player’s fitness — most of the workouts are a test in itself. As a coach, we have to be prudent that they tick the right boxes.”