“Transition to IPL should be a fun one” – Navnita Gautam on her stint as a massage therapist for RCB
Navnita Gautam made history as she became the first IPL female support staffer to be appointed in a decade. Gautam is appointed by RCB as a massage therapist for the next season. She thus becomes the 3rd woman staffer in IPL after Ashleigh Joyce and Patricia Jenkins who worked for Deccan Chargers.
Navnita, who will be working with RCB’s Head Physiotherapist Evan Speechly and Strength and Conditioning coach Basu Shanker, is looking forward to the season.
Chatting with ESPNcricinfo, Navnita, who is Canada based, revealed that she is planning to introduce some new things to the players. She admitted that she is a fan of soft-tissue release manipulations. She believes that identifying which muscles are overactive and which muscles are underactive and treating them accordingly is the key.
Gautam has been involved in games such as football and basketball earlier. Although most field sports are of the same nature, the volume of work in cricket is higher and the recovery timeless, she said to Hemant Brar of espncricinfo.com
RCB stint won’t be Navnita’s first involvement in cricket. Gautam has already worked for team Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 Canada League which had some high profile players such as Yuvraj Singh, Brendon McCullum, Kieron Pollard, and Mitchell McClenaghan. She has also worked with the Indian women’s basketball team during the Asia Cup.
The experience in the Global T20 Canada League was amazing, Gautam said. “Thus the transition to IPL should be a fun one”, Gautam was quoted by Brar.
Upon asking whether she has any apprehensions being the only woman in an IPL team, Gautam replied in negative. “It’s like having 20 brothers around at all times”, she said.
She also believes that IPL will see more appointments of female support staffers in the future. “Slowly but surely, the transition is happening”.
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