The Yo-Yo test in cricket has been the recent talk in Indian cricket. Not only the players who play for the national team but also the young developing players are keen on clearing the test as it is the first level decision-point in the national team selection now. Anyhow Rahul Dravid, the Indian junior team coach has revealed that the Yo-Yo test will not be a factor in the junior team selection for the limited-overs U-19 World Cup.
What is Yo-Yo test?
Yo-Yo test is a fitness challenge developed by a Danish Soccer physiologist Jens Bangsbo. It is a part of the fitness tests in the soccer teams of most of the European countries.
Still, it is not a new thing to cricket as Australia, New Zealand and English cricket teams already have the Yo-Yo endurance test in their team players training.
Watch England cricket players sweating it out in the Yo-Yo fitness test in the video down here:
VIDEO SOURCE: ECB YOUTUBE CHANNEL
So, cutting things short, Yo-Yo test has three points, say, X, Y and Z. With point Y in the middle, X and Y are kept at a 5m distance and points Y and Z at 20m distance.
Now, the players initially start at point Y sprinting towards Z and back to Y to have a recovery walk to X. Walking back to Y, they will again start sprinting to Z.
So mathematically, 40 meters run including a turn continued with a 10 meters recovery walk. And the process continues in the loop.
Importantly, every distance has to be covered within the time limit (indicated by beep sound). And the time decreases for every next run. For instance, if a player runs his first 40m in 13 seconds, then he will have to complete his 21st run in 8 seconds probably. Challenging, right? Indeed!!!
What is the benchmark scoring point for Indian team selection?
Yo-Yo endurance test has become the major fitness assessment practice in the Indian cricket team selection process.
The current benchmark in the Yo-Yo test in the Indian team selection is said to be 19.5.
And the test is usually conducted at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
With this test becoming the mandatory program in the Indian cricket team selection now, the Indian players are destined to go past the score of 19.5 to be available for the selection process.
So if you are a cricketer, prepare yourself now.
You can also read Cricket books on batting and fitness techniques to improve you as a player!
Indian players scores in Yo-Yo test
As per the sources, Virat Kohli, the Indian captain has passed the Yo-Yo test convincingly by scoring 21, along with players like Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Yuzvendra Chahal and K L Rahul.
With other current players like Ravi Ashwin, Mohd Shami and Shikhar Dhawan managing to finish the test for selection, players like Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina fails to catch it in their first try and had got sacked from the Indian team for Australian limited-overs series two months back.
Recently, Raina said to have cleared the Yo-Yo test and Yuvraj Singh too has caught up with the pace of other youngsters.
Washington Sundar, the other player who got cut out from the team for Australian T20 series managed to clear the test before the Sri Lankan limited-overs series to get into the team.
Why the Yo-Yo test?
Yo-Yo test is actually designed for the players of sports like football. rugby and cricket too. Unlike field running athletes, these players will have time to recover at regular intervals in between the game.
For instance, a batsman will have his time to recover after completing a quick single or a sprint 2 or 3. Likewise, a bowler will have his time to recover after every ball by walking back and also, after every over and spell.
So the idea of the Yo-Yo test is to find out the stamina level of the players to recover themselves for the next sprint, with a recovery intermittent distance of the 10m walk.
Has the test been a part in Indian cricket in the past?
As Ashish Nehra mentioned recently in an interview with Virender Sehwag, the current Yo-Yo test is something similar to what was called the blip test in 2001 in the Indian camp, which was brought into the system by the then think-tank of Indian Selectors.
Nehra explained that he managed to complete the test as he is used to sprints as a pace bowler. He also revealed that Yuvraj Singh is yet to complete the run.
Wrap-up
As you see, the Indian team management has set up the gruelling fitness levels for the players to be available for the selection. This makes the point square that the management is keeping high standards when it comes to fitness with the captain himself being the example.
This must be the changing times in Indian cricket as every player has to prove their fitness to be in the team.
Definitely a good time in Indian cricket and as Cricket fans, we should be happy that the Indian cricket is in good hands.
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