Around 2 pm at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Banglore, journalists covering the ongoing Duleep Trophy were asked to vacate the ground, as the fitness tests of the India players were about to commence at an adjoining arena. This is according to a senior reporter of a national daily covering the tournament.
By evening, social media was abuzz with the news of Rohit Sharma, India’s ODI captain, acing the tests. Some even went to the extent of putting up his Yo-Yo Test score — 19.4. As weird as it gets, for as per the BCCI protocol, fitness test scores are confidential and not to be disclosed in public. Unless the cricket board is putting out an official communication, like it did in Ambati Rayudu’s case in 2018-19, outsiders wouldn’t know about the test scores.
Karnataka medium pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak reportedly has failed to clear the fitness tests. It can be assumed, others, including Rohit, have cleared it. According to someone in the know, the 38-year-old has been working his socks off on his fitness, working with his friend and former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. He looks a lot fitter and leaner and as RevSportz already reported, Rohit intends to play the unofficial ODI series between India A and Australia A in September-October as part of his preparations for the white-ball series in Australia.
Then again, there’s no clarity yet, if he appeared for the Bronco Test on Sunday. According to sources, the players underwent the Yo-Yo Test and the DXA scan yesterday, but insiders are tight-lipped on whether the Bronco Test was conducted.
Adrian le Roux, India’s strength and conditioning coach, has incorporated the rugby-centric Bronco Test — five sets of shuttle run, totalling 1,200 metres without a break — as part of the fitness roster. This has been done with an eye on the players, especially fast bowlers, having miles on their legs. It is, however, not known if, to start with, the test would be limited to the fast bowlers or every squad member will have to undergo it.
Fans are the biggest stakeholders of the game and considering that, the whole fitness test process calls for a bit more transparency.