The players arrived less than 48 hours after finishing a tough two-Test away series against Sri Lanka.
India's top centrally-contracted cricketers checked into the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Saturday (August 29) for fitness assessment prior to the fresh home season.
Test regulars like Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, and Yashasvi Jaiswal reported less than 48 hours after the completion of Sri Lanka tour.
Having been on the field for three successive days in the Colombo Test, it was impressive to see them marking their pre-season fitness parameters ahead of what will be a hectic eight-month period concluding with IPL 2027.
The aforementioned names were seen sweating it out along with T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer, shortest format specialists Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson and CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad among others.
The pre-season conditioning program tracks stamina, endurance, and physical structural health using primary testing protocols -- Bronco Test, 2K Running Test and Yo-Yo Test.
In Bronco Test, a 1,200-metre shuttle run executed across escalating intervals of 20, 40, and 60 metres, requiring completion in five-and-a-half minutes.
The players must achieve a minimum benchmark score of 16.5 during Yo-Yo Test, while 2K Running Test needs to be completed within 10 minutes.
The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy will participate in these fitness drills only when they are declared fully fit. They are currently undergoing rehabilitation.
Key fast bowlers like Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were exempted from the time being due to their high bowling workloads on the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Prince Yadav, who suffered a hamstring niggle during India's Tour of UK, is now fit and available for selection.
Team India's 2026 cricket home season begins in September with a unique T20I series against Afghanistan. A three-match series in Delhi where Afghanistan officially acts as the host team on Indian soil.
The primary T20I team will then travel to Japan for the Asian Games while a separate white-ball squad will play a home series against the West Indies concurrently.
India A will host Australia A in Puducherry, running from the last week of September to the second week of October.
(With PTI Inputs)