Cricket fitness should be the prime consideration, not yo yo or some other test: Sunil Gavaskar

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently decided to make the Yo-Yo and Dexa fitness tests mandatory for selection of players to the senior men's team. Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar has criticised this decision, arguing that cricket fitness should be the primary factor in team selection.

"The "yo yo" test and various other fitness-level exams will be brought back, according to a recent BCCI announcement, mostly for young players. Even if a player racks up centuries and double centuries or picks up five and 10 wicket hauls while bowling plenty of overs, he won't be selected if he can't pass these tests."

"The main factor should be cricket fitness. And sure, having the media present while these fitness tests are conducted in the open would be informative since we would then be able to determine if a player is "yo yo" or not "Gavaskar stated this in his Monday midday column.

Gavaskar questioned the lack of "biomechanists, body science experts as selectors" with his trademark wit.

"None of the candidates for the selection committee panel that the CAC recently interviewed were experts in biomechanics or body science. It could be preferable to have these experts on the selection panel rather than former cricketers as eligibility will be determined by a player's level of fitness."

"After all if it comes to a choice between two players for a spot in the team these experts would be in a better position to tell which among the two is fitter than the other and never mind the runs scored or wickets taken by the two players."

Citing an example from his playing days, Gavaskar tried to make a case on why the fitness tests shouldn't be the sole criteria to select a player in the national team. "Many years back, when this physical fitness fad had started, we had two former teammates who had retired and now were the managers of the team for different series that season."

"They would not have even come near to the kind of fitness levels that both started requiring of the then Indian squad during their playing days. The only lads who enjoyed running laps around the field and engaging in other workouts at the time were those from the North. The guys from the South and West concentrated on developing their cricket fitness by bowling and hitting long in the nets, taking lots of catches, and performing short sprints."

"Since I was a school-age cricket player, I had experienced shin splints, a condition where even a few laps around the field would cause the muscles surrounding the shin to just cramp up and make it hard even to walk. The two ex-teammates who are now managers were aware that my shin issue prevented me from participating in the long distance jogging. However, they insisted that I run around the field with the team."

"I also told them that if I got out because of fatigue then they were entirely within their rights to question my fitness but not because I couldn't run two laps of the ground. I was in my second decade of playing for India then and not once had there been an instance of me being unfit because of a muscular injury."

"Yes, I had missed three Test matches because of a fractured finger and the only time I missed a game till then was because of a strained muscle was in the 1983 World Cup. The point am trying to make is fitness is an individual thing and there is no such thing as one size fits all."

"The quick bowlers need a different level than the spinners, the wicket keepers need an even higher level and the batters perhaps the least. So, it's rough when the parameters are set for everybody and not according to one's specialty."