The Yo Yo and Dexa tests have become the order of the day for India’s international cricketers. The Yo Yo consists of speed and recovery assessments conducted around plastic cones over specific distances and with variations, and the Dexa tests ascertain bone health.
Recently, on the basis of their low Yo Yo scores, batsman Sanju Samson was dropped from the India A team for the tour of England, fast bowler Mohammed Shami for the one-off Test against Afghanistan and batsman Ambati Rayudu in India's ODI squad for the tour of England.
The various Indian teams were selected on May 8 but Samson, Shami and Rayudu were told immediately that Yo Yo tests would be conducted in early and mid-June.
The tests were put into practice from India’s tour of Sri Lanka last year and initially, the first three who did not come up to the required levels of fitness were Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Washington Sundar. Subsequently, they managed to achieve the 16.1 score on a scale of 25 and Raina and Sundar have been picked for limited-overs matches.
“Anyone who does gym work every day would clear the 16.1 score. In Australia and New Zealand it’s a high of 19 and Pakistan has set a starting score of 17,’’ said a BCCI official.
Being dropped from the team would have been a bitter pill to swallow for Rayudu, who had a glorious run for Chennai Super Kings in the recently concluded IPL.
BCCI not informed
The decision to put the players selected for Indian teams (excluding under-19) was taken by the Indian team management last year. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) also came on board. But the BCCI is not in full comprehension of the two fitness-related tests. The chairman of the NCA Board, Niranjan Shah, said: “We don’t know what’s going on.’’
A BCCI senior official said “no comments’’ to a particular query on the two advanced tests conducted by the support staff of the Indian team. However, the official said that the BCCI members have not been communicated about the decision taken by the Indian team management and NCA.
Another BCCI official, well-versed with such matters, said, “These are policy matters that cannot be taken independent of the BCCI. No one is against the players being asked to reach a high standard of fitness. But it’s obligatory of the BCCI to tell its members about the Yo Yo tests before the start of the cricket season.
“The States will put in place a system for its Ranji Trophy teams and the cricketers will be better prepared. The Yo Yo test scores of all the players have to be displayed on the BCCI website.’’
A person who has understood the outcome of the Yo Yo and Dexa tests, and has closely watched it evolve in the last few months, believes that today’s international cricket is exacting and a player has to be in top fitness. It’s said that India’s fielding coach R.Sridhar, at 47, achieves a score of 16.
