BCCI Center of Excellence Clash: News of player injuries continues to surface daily in Team India. Players are being ruled out of every series with injuries. The situation has become so dire that the coach and captain are having difficulty making their own choices. Now, the BCCI has taken significant action regarding player fitness. According to media reports, some senior players are being given easy targets to pass fitness tests.
The BCCI is unhappy with this. Consequently, the board has decided to implement uniform fitness standards for all Indian players at the Bengaluru-based Center of Excellence (CoE). Different fitness standards will no longer be applied to different players in the CoE.
Approval Granted After Being Unfit
According to a Times of India report, fitness test standards have not been strictly followed over the past year. Some senior players were given easy targets to help them pass the fitness tests. At the request of the team management, the Center of Excellence staff cleared Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy despite them not being fully fit. When these players returned to the field, they were injured again and ruled out within a few matches.
BCCI Changes Fitness Parameters
After the arrival of Strength and Conditioning Coach Adrian Le Roux last year, the Board began to place more emphasis on the Bronco Test instead of the Yo-Yo Test. However, the biggest problem was that there was no set minimum standard for the Bronco Test. According to reports, different parameters were adopted for some senior players, raising questions about the entire fitness system. Now, following the Board’s action, the CoE has established new, uniform parameters for all players.
Bronco Test: 5 minutes 15 seconds to 5 minutes 20 seconds
2-kilometer run test: 9 to 10 minutes
Yo-Yo test: Minimum score 16.5
BCCI issues strict instructions to physios
According to reports, the BCCI has clearly told Team India’s head physiotherapist, Kamlesh Jain, that he need not be intimidated by any player’s status or stature. If he finds anything unsatisfactory, he should immediately raise objections. In fact, due to injuries, the team has been forced to play without its favorite players for some time now.