Former Indian cricketer, Sandeep Patil said only Yo-Yo Tests aren't considered while deciding the fitness of a cricketer. Patil feels players should be given second chance to prove their fitness. The former chief selector asks for some mercy while judging any player on his fitness.
Suresh Raina replaced in-form Ambati Rayudu for the ODI series against England after the player failed to score 16.1 in the Yo-Yo Test. Ambati Rayudu was in brilliant form in the current IPL season that led Chennai Super Kings to win their third IPL season.
Before Ambati Rayudu, Sanju Samson and Mohammad Shami also failed their Yo-Yo Test due to which their replacements were named immediately. While respecting the stress on improving the fitness, former Indian chief selector urged a second chance for the players to improve their fitness.
"Like in Test cricket, where a player is given two innings to prove himself, even in the case of Yo-Yo tests, he should be given two chances. If a player isn't able to clear the test, give him another crack at it a few hours later, or the next day. There could be many reasons why Ambati Rayudu failed the Yo-Yo test that day. A player may not be mentally there. You're talking about the career of a player. He has performed well for the whole year in domestic cricket, and in half-an-hour, you'll decide whether he'd go on the tour or not. You don't drop players like this," Patil told TOI.
Amogh Pandit, who was Mumbai's trainer for 14 years complaints on the decision of judging players on one fitness test. He added "If a sport requires multiple fitness components, how can you chuck someone out on the basis of just one fitness component. There's no guarantee that one can't pick up an injury after clearing a Yo-Yo test. You need to count mobility, flexibility, strength and power too. Secondly, a fast bowler requires explosiveness, power. A spinner needs endurance. A Yo-Yo test measures cardio-vascular endurance. It's not fair to drop a pacer because of this factor. I need to see various components like power, strength to judge his fitness. A Yo-Yo test is one of the tests to measure a player's fitness. You can't judge a person's fitness on just this test. It's like a batsman keeps practising a cover drive, but doesn't know how to play a sweep shot," Pandit said.
"If I keep doing bench press, I'll lift more weight in a few weeks' time, but will it help me become a better cricketer? You've to look for cricket-specific tests, like 'run a three,' which we used to do. From what it appears, only Yo-Yo is being considered as a mandatory test. Rayudu's in great form now, but failed the Yo-Yo and was dropped. Next time, when he clears Yo-Yo, but is in bad form, will you select him?" Pandit further explaining about Yo-Yo Test given too much importance these days.
"They aren't implementing the Yo-Yo tests, but they have a '2km time trial' as their benchmark fitness test. The idea of a fitness test is to see if the player can go through a six-seven-hour cricket match without getting fatigued," Pandit concluded.
