When MSK Prasad announced that Yuvraj Singh has been rested for the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, it came out as a surprise to everyone because already, from past one month, the player was on the bench by the virtue of not being part of India Test side and what kind of rest was Prasad talking about.
But the real reason behind him not being selected in the team has come out now, as Yuvraj failed to pass the fitness test at NCA in Bangalore.
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Yuvraj failed the ‘Yo-Yo’ endurance test and was unable to achieve the desired mark. As per the norm of Indian cricket team at present, a player should score 19.5 or more so as to prove his fitness, whereas, the left-handed batsman was unable to achieve the mark, which resulted in selectors dropping him,
“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. 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,” a source told PTI.
Earlier, the fitness test used to hold less importance but with the entrance of Shankar Basu in the dressing room a few years back, the scenario has changed, as Basu worked with the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and rigorous training resulted in Kohli setting a benchmark for other players.
In past two years, there has been a sudden change in Kohli’s fitness, which has put pressure on other players to be fit also. The same thing was mentioned by Ravi Shastri in an interview recently that only fit players will have a longer rope. In short, it is fitness that comes first in this Indian cricket team.
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In addition to Yuvraj, Suresh Raina too failed the Yo-Yo test and was not considered for the selection. There were bright chances of him making a comeback in the Indian ODI team after a period of one-year but a failure in clearing the test saw selectors not considering him as well.
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