RCB players set to undergo Yo-Yo Test

What's the story?

After a successful IPL auction, the Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping to put their dismal 2017 season behind them and hope for a better season this time around.

According to reports emerging from the Hindu, the Virat Kohli led franchise have asked a few players to undergo the Yo-Yo fitness Test ahead of the tournament.

According to the report, Pawan Negi, Navdeep Saini, and Kulwant Khejroliya have been asked to undergo the Test.

In case you didn't know...

Part of a series of tests that contemporary cricketers take to assess their levels of fitness during team selection, the ‘Yo-Yo’ test gauges the player’s ability to run for extended periods of time to check their endurance.

As a captain, Kohli has always given utmost importance to the fitness of a player.

The details:

Clearing the Yo-Yo Test has become an important criteria for selection into the Indian cricket team. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh failed the Test on multiple occasions and this was one of the main reasons for their exclusion from the Indian squad in the latter half of 2017.

However, Raina has made it back to the T20I squad to take on South Africa next month after a superb performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. Yuvraj, on the other hand, continues to miss out.

What's next?

The IPL is set to begin on April 7 in Mumbai with the Mumbai Indians taking on the Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural match.

Author's take:

If the reports are to be believed, it sounds a bit unfair that only a select few cricketers have to undergo the fitness Test. The entire team should be asked to undergo the Test instead, despite a few of them, like Virat Kohli and Umesh Yadav already clearing it in the past.

RCB seem to have a strong squad for the upcoming season and it will be interesting to see if they can lift their first ever title.