Rohit Sharma to appear for YoYo Test on Sunday

YoYo Test has become the most important criteria for any player to qualify for a spot in the Indian national cricket team. All the players, the new faces and the stars are to undergo the test ahead of any series and score better than the benchmark 16.1 to pass the test. Ahead of Team India’s tour of England Indian opener Rohit Sharma missed the June 15 test and will be at the NCA on Sunday for the same.

While most players took the YoYo test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Friday, Rohit isn’t in India at the moment. He is in Russia to fulfil his commercial commitments. The opener had taken prior permission from the board and thus they’ve arranged for an alternative date for his fitness test. Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) GM Cricket Operations Saba Karim confirmed.

“Rohit had taken permission from the BCCI for his personal engagements (he is in Russia as a brand ambassador of a watch company). There’s no rule that all tests have to be conducted on the same day. He will be appearing for the YoYo Test tomorrow,” the former Indian wicketkeeper said.

While Rohit should manage to clear it, the selectors already have a headache because of the YoYo test. Ambati Rayudu who was recalled in the ODI squad on the back of a stupendous IPL season could only scale 14 in the test and is thus ineligible to be a part of the team. The national selectors now have to pick another player for that spot and the options they have in hand are Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane.

India squad for the ODI series against England:

Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu*, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.

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