BCCI to introduce a new fitness test in addition to the existing yo-yo test

In the past few years, the fitness of the Indian team has become a lot better and it has shown in their performances. The team has done exceeding well at the international level and has set high standards of fitness for themselves. The famous yo-yo test can be given some credit for this. Even though it was one of the most talked-about topics in Indian cricket for some time, it eventually resulted in bringing positive outcomes for the side. Now, it seems that BCCI is planning to introduce another fitness metric in order to achieve new heights. 

All the players who would be making it into the Indian team would now have to pass another test. This test will be done to examine speed and endurance. The test will have a distance of two KMs, a time trial. As per the reports on Indian Express, the benchmark for fast-bowlers for this test will be set at 8 minutes and 15 seconds, while the batsmen will have a cut off of 8 minutes and 30 seconds. 

“The Board felt that the current fitness standard played a huge role in getting our fitness to the next level. It is important to take our fitness level to another level now. The time trial exercise will help us to compete even better. The Board will keep updating the standards every year,” a BCCI official said.

The senior members of the side like Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli are expected to clear this test in much lesser time as these players have tremendous fitness standards. There has not been any change in terms of minimum clarity to clear the Yo-Yo test, as it remains at 17.1. 

New fitness test to happen thrice a year

After being approved by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah, all the players were informed about the new test which will be put in place. The test will be happening thrice a year, in February, in June, and once in August or September. 

It has been reported that the players who have returned from Australia, don’t need to clear the test in February. However, the players who will be taking part in the ODI series against England will still have to take this test. This test has been reported to be a better metric than the already existing Yo-Yo test, which won’t be tinkered with.