That, though, is during the initial weeks. Once games begin, their area of expertise changes to hydration, player education apropos urine, getting eight hours of sleep and so on.

Studying urine samples of players

Punjab Kings, like a lot of franchises in recent times, ‘did dabble’ in studying the urine deposits of the players but they don’t do that anymore. “What we are testing for is not going to make a difference in the time frame of that match,” Leipus says. “During Test cricket, perhaps (it’s important to look at the specific gravity of the urine). In T20, the game’s over in three and a half hours. It’s about making sure your urine is clear before the match starts.”

Le Roux, whose time with the Indian team overlapped with that of Leipus, chips in during the same Zoom call. “It’s all about player education,” the South African says. “We spend a lot of time with the players to talk about hydration and sleep. It doesn’t really matter what time the players go to sleep but the aim is for eight hours of sleep.”

Punjab do not have set hydration protocols in place but “we encourage all players to go to bed fully hydrated, even if it means having to get up to pass urine in the night,” Leipus says.

It’s kind of important because players tend to lose anywhere between one and three kilos over the four over period during an IPL game. “It depends on an individual,” Le Roux, who has worked in the IPL in some capacity during all seasons, says. “We are fortunate that most of our games are evening games. A player might lose, maybe, 1-3 kilos in body weight but that’s all water and that will be replaced quite quickly.”

Using wellness tech Haaland invests in

Hydration, though, is just one aspect of their roles after matches. “We can’t force players to do anything that they don’t feel is relevant to them,” Leipus says. “A lot of them do ice baths in the dressing room post-matches. When they come back to the hotel, if they have got any niggles, we do something called an icing-compression treatment. We had a couple of players on the normatec (a compression device footballer Erling Haaland swears by so much he decided to become an investor in its parent company),” Leipus says.