The task that Vaibhav Patil was dealing with at the moment was simple — to train Shahid Kapoor to run between the crease, as fast as he could. Patil knew that Kapoor’s acting prowess would enable him to perfectly resemble a cricketer in the first few takes. But unless his athletic levels matched that of a sportsperson, his body would give way over successive takes. “Functional training, like the word suggests, trains you to get better at a desired function. In this case, it was about getting the batsman to run between the wickets, faster,” he says of Kapoor’s character in the forthcoming film, Jersey. “He needed to run with a bat, and in full gear. At the time, Shahid was tending an ankle injury. In a rehabilitative method, we trained him to first run without gear, then with dumbbells, then a [heavier] medicine ball, and eventually, with a bat, and in full gear. Such a progression could take a month, but when it translates on the big screen, it looks efficient,” says the physiotherapist, who also catered to the Indian team at the 2012 London Olympics.

The cast of 83 referred to Patil’s work station, where they underwent rehabilitation, as ‘torture chamber’