Fitness, yo-yo and Bronco have become the buzzwords in Indian cricket circles as the leading names were at the
Board of Control for Cricket in India's (
BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) to undergo fitness assessment after a long break, and before the next assignments.
From
Rohit Sharma to Arshdeep Singh, the cricketers gave an account of their fitness in Bengaluru. However, it has been reliably learnt that Bronco - the recommendation of new Strength & Conditioning coach Adrian Le Roux - wasn't part of the drill.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The players underwent basic health checkups, regular mobility and agility tests before calling it a day with the Yo-Yo test. Why wasn't Bronco included then? A well-placed source explains, "It could happen when the squad assembles in Dubai for the Asia Cup. The team will start leaving late tonight (early morning of September 4) and have their first session at ICC Academy on September 5. So if the management and the S&C want to do a Bronco assessment, it could happen in Dubai. If at all it happens."
Are these tests a selection criteria? No they are not but every centrally contracted player and even the targetted players are required to prove their match fitness especially after a long break and before the start of the season. In this case, players who played the Tests in England had a long break and some of them were picked for the Asia Cup starting this month.
Right after the Asia Cup, India start their home season with the Tests against West Indies before the tour of Australia for white-ball assignments.
In a chat with
TimesofIndia.com, former S&C coach Soham Desai explained how these tests keep changing as per the comfort and familiarity of the man in command.
"During
Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri’s time, they directed Shankar Basu to get fitness to a level leading into the 2019 World Cup. Those numbers were agreed with all the stakeholders involved and they wanted to keep it a serious affair so that people leading into the 2019 World Cup come to a particular level and then we play the World Cup. That was the whole vision. That's why those numbers were agreed upon and shared and it became a selection criteria.
"But after that, we have done the Yo-Yo test three times a year for almost all contracted players every year. But it was never a selection criteria. It is a fitness assessment parameter where we as coaches, as people working in NCA (BCCI's CoE), get an idea, a snapshot about their fitness at that particular level," he explained.
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