There were lots of hue and cry following the omission of Yuvraj Singh from the limited-overs team, which will take on Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI and T20I series from Sunday (December 10). While some folks were criticizing the selectors for ignoring the experienced campaigner from the squad, others were citing his age as the biggest reason for the snub.
However, a clearer picture emerged out when India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad revealed that poor fitness was the prime reason behind Yuvi’s exclusion.
"Yuvraj Singh has fitness issues. He has not played a lot of competitive cricket lately," Prasad said while addressing the media after announcing the team.
On Monday (December 4), Yuvraj had admitted that he passed the fitness test on Sunday after three failed attempts.
"I would like to tell that I am failing. I still fail. I failed the last three fitness tests but yesterday I passed my fitness test. After 17 years I am still failing," Yuvraj said according to India Today.
"I am still playing. I don't know what format I am going to play. But I am pushing everyday as hard as I used to, may be harder than before because I am getting older. And I see myself playing cricket till 2019 and obviously take a call after that," he further added.
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In the last few months, Yo-Yo endurance test has created a lot of buzz in India’s cricketing circle as the veterans like Yuvraj and Raina were snubbed from the limited-overs squad in the preceding series owing to their failure in this very test.
It has been learnt that for the current Indian team, 19.5 and upwards was considered as the good enough ‘Yo-Yo’ score wherein both Yuvraj and Raina had scored way below the acceptable level of 19.5 with Yuvi barely managing to touch 16.
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As far as 'Yo-Yo' endurance test is concerned – it is an advanced version of the 'beep' test that was used by teams of earlier generations. The entire procedure is software-based where the results are recorded.
India’s squad for 3 ODIs against Sri Lanka:
Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul
India’s squad for 3 T20Is against Sri Lanka:
Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat.
