Yo-Yo fitness test is haunting Indian cricketers

June 17 (CRICKETNMORE) - Ireland and Afghanistan played their first-ever Test matches a month apart to take the number of Test-playing nations to a dozen. It is only natural to compare the performances of the two new entrants. Ireland played

With a better cricket intelligence they could have restricted India to a much lower total as all their five mainline bowlers were among the wickets, even if their highly-rated leg-spinner Rashid Khan disappointed, like Shane Warne in his first Test against India. Totals of 109 and 103 in the two innings clearly show that their batsmen have a long way to go at the Test level.With not much to crow about the two-day Test win, the Indians were straightaway put through the Yo-Yo tests. When one looks at the test, it appears all too simple for anyone to clear. But not so easy as Mohammad Shami, Ambati Rayudu and Sanju Samson realized. What is more intriguing and shocking is that both Rayudu and Samson were brilliant in the outfield and took some marvellous catches, unless the argument is that the two made simple catches look spectacular! They did not look all that sloppy even while batting even though both were victims of run-outs.

Rayudu, in particular, scored 602 runs for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League to force his way back into the India squad for the limited-overs tournaments and was replaced by Suresh Raina, who had himself failed the test twice a year and half ago. There is no confirmation whether Shami cleared the fitness regimen within a week after failing to miss the Afghanistan Test. If fitness is as much an issue as batting and bowling, then why is Manish Pandey, the fittest of the players touching 18 when the required parameter is 16.1, not picked?. The Yo-Yo test is a variation of the good old beep test and it is developed as part of a series of endurance tests by Danish football physiologist Jens Bangsbo.