Yo-Yo Test necessary for players, can explain their fitness levels: Former NCA physiotherapist

By Vipul Kashyap
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 6 : Former National Cricket Academy (NCA) physiotherapist Deepak Sury said that Yo-Yo test is going to be extremely important for the players in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will start from February 9 and will help players become better performers on-field.
The first Test between India and Australia will start from February 9 onwards in Nagpur.
"Yo-Yo Test is necessary for players. It can explain the fitness of players very well. Now India will be playing 4 Test matches against Australia at home. They will have to be on the field for four to five days regularly, though they will not have to run around in the stadium continuously. Their body will need some aerobics which will be provided by this test," Sury told ANI.
"Yo-Yo test has returned to the team selection process after it was stopped due to COVID-19. Players complained that they did not have ground or gyms to train. We reintroduced it after things got okay again. Virat Kohli's record in this test is unbeaten and he has always performed well in it. This is why he has scored so many runs continuously. He can turn singles into doubles effortlessly. I have complete faith that he will be the leading run scorer in the upcoming Test series," added Sury.
The Yo-Yo Test was introduced during Virat Kohli's reign as captain. It was developed by Denmark football physiologist Jens Bangsbo and is a maximal aerobic endurance fitness test, which involves running between markers placed 20 metres apart, at increasing speeds, until exhaustion.
Audio cues dictate the required running speed. A participant is given 10 seconds break after he runs 40 metres and he runs the same distance once again. At regular intervals, the required speed of running increases. The test goes on till the participant is not able to keep up with the required pace of running.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in January convened the review meeting of Team India in Mumbai to review India's dismal performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 where India badly lost in the semi-final match to England by 10 wickets.
In that meeting, it was decided that the Yo-Yo Test and Dexa will now be part of the selection criteria and implemented in the customized roadmaps of the central pool of players.
The four-match Test series is extremely important for India and Australia and their chances for World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner
India squad: (for the first two Tests) Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.