India’s stylish skipper Virat Kohli has been in great form lately. Be it a video of him lifting some heavy weights or stroke-making in the field, the 28-year-old fitness freak from Delhi never fails to charm his fans.
His fitness seems one of the best things that happened to Indian cricket in recent past. This trend has surely raised the bar for the other competing cricketers.
Recently, India registered a clean sweep victory over Sri Lanka and clinched the Test series by 3-0. Now the men-in-blue have shifted their focus to the limited-over cricket as they are scheduled to play five-match ODI series against the Islanders, starting with the first ODI to be held at Dambulla on Sunday.
However, the squad selection for the ODI saw some hard sweating tests. And that is where experienced cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina failed to make a cut.
According to a PTI report, both Yuvraj and Raina failed to clear the ‘Yo-Yo’ test that determines the speed and endurance level of a player.
It’s a regular exercise for the Indian cricket team, where the score is measured through an advanced version of the ‘beep’ test that was used by teams of earlier generations. The current Indian squad is considered among the fittest.
Cherry on the cake, captain Kohli emerged as the fittest cricketer at the National Cricket Academy as he scored 21 in the ‘Yo-Yo’ test, while Yuvraj and Raina scored well below the permissible level of 19.5.
Yuvraj, who has played 304 ODIs for India, managed to score just 16 that put him in the back burner for the selectors.
“The current team think tank, coach Ravi Shastri, skipper Virat Kohli and chairman of selectors MSK Prasad have made it clear that fitness standards are non-negotiable. On an average, the Australian cricketers score 21 in Yo-Yo test. Here Virat, Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey regularly hit that score while others are either touching 19.5 or is hitting above that score,” a BCCI official told PTI.
The official further sheds some light on the need of the current times, where a sluggish cricketer might cost the team a match.
“In an earlier era, when the traditional beep test was in vogue, the Indian players of the 1990’s would have scored around 16 to 16.5 barring a few like Mohammed Azharuddin, Robin Singh or Ajay Jadeja. But now it’s different as the skipper himself is hitting the benchmark, which the Australian cricket team sets it,” the official added, hinting at the state of veterans like Yuvraj and Raina.