March 29, 2024

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Can’t select players based on one test : Yo-Yo Test Creater

Can’t select players based on one test : Yo-Yo Test Creater

Can’t select players based on one test : Yo-Yo Test Creater

For a player to be eligible for selection in the team has to hit 16.1 in the yo-yo test.


The certain criteria for selection in the Indian cricket team at this point is clear the yo-yo test or stay out of favour. A list of players have been deemed unfit for selection or removed from the team just after they failed to meet the benchmark of 16.1 on the fitness test. The head coach of the team Ravi Shastri just yesterday made it clear that this is here to stay and anyone who thinks otherwise can go for a walk.

However, most former cricketers in India and even selectors from the past do not agree with this parameter. They don’t think one fitness test should be a determinant as far as selection in the team is concerned. While the Indian team management doesn’t seem to care about what ex-cricketers think the man who invented the yo-yo test has a similar opinion.

Dr Jens Bangsbo a Danish soccer physiologist is the man behind the rather infamous yo-yo test. He introduced it in football in 1991 but the objective was to be able to test the fitness standards for all sports that follow intermittent exercise pattern.

Cannot select players based on a single test
When asked if the test is good enough to understand the ability of athletes to produce performance on the field he said, “The question is clear – you cannot select players based on a single test,” Bangsbo was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

The tests were developed in the early 1991, as I felt that the sports with intermittent exercise patterns were lacking appropriate tests,” he added.

He explained the pattern of the test while also clearly stating that it can be in no way tampered with and the same methodology should be followed to obtain the results.

“The performance is assessed as the distance covered in the test. Between each shuttle, there is a 5- or 10-second rest period and the participant finishes the test when he or she twice has not been able to complete the shuttle within the given time (as the speed progressively increases). A sub-maximal where the participant runs for five minutes and the heart rate is measured is also a very useful test to see the development,” he stated.

Very recently two cricketers Mohammed Shami who was picked in the Indian Test team and Ambati Rayudu who was set to make an ODI comeback on the tour of England were dropped from the team as they failed to meet the benchmark score.


“Ankit Vaishnav”

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