Several Indian cricketers, including ODI captain Rohit Sharma and Test captain Shubman Gill, underwent the mandatory fitness test by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ahead of the Asia Cup 2025 tournament.
The BCCI has introduced the new Bronco test in their arsenal of fitness tests at their new Center of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. The new test, widely used in rugby, checks the endurance of players as them doing multiple shuttle runs of 20 meters, 40 meters, and 60 meters. The total distance should be covered in the mandated time.
However, now a report has stated that none of the players were evaluated using the Bronco Test, which was suggested by Adrian Le Roux, the new strength & conditioning coach, because they were forced to demonstrate their fitness using the current system.
"It could happen when the squad assembles in Dubai for the Asia Cup. The team will start leaving late tonight (early morning of September 4) and have their first session at the ICC Academy on September 5. So, if the management and the S&C want to do a Bronco assessment, it could happen in Dubai, if it happens at all," a Times of India report quoted a source at the BCCI's Center of Excellence as saying.
The set of tests used to gauge players' fitness is periodically modified by the BCCI. All players under contract with the BCCI undergo fitness tests, but Soham Desai, the former strength and conditioning coach for India, disclosed that these tests weren't always used as a reason for selection. Whether the Bronco test will be used as a selection criterion is still unknown.
"During Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri's time, they directed Shankar Basu to get fitness to a certain level, leading into the 2019 World Cup. Those numbers were agreed upon with all the stakeholders involved, and they wanted to keep it a serious affair so that people leading into the 2019 World Cup would reach a particular level before we played the World Cup. That was the whole vision. That's why those numbers were agreed upon, shared, and became a selection criterion.
But after that, we have done the Yo-Yo test three times a year for almost all contracted players every year. But it was never a selection criterion. It is a fitness assessment parameter where we, as coaches, as people working in the NCA (BCCI's CoE), get an idea—a snapshot—about their fitness at that particular level," Desai explained.
While Shubman Gill and Jasprit Bumrah were present for a fitness test ahead of the Asia Cup 2025, Rohit Sharma is expected to be training to get ready for the ODI series in Australia in October.
