"Yo-yo test shouldn’t be the only criterion," says Sachin Tendulkar

After a mixed bag of reactions on the yo-yo test controversy, former Indian batting maestro has had his say on BCCI and India's team management making it a mandatory criterion for inclusion in the team. He thinks that it is important that the players constituting the side be fit, but is of the opinion that the yo-yo test should not be the only measurement of fitness or a compulsory requirement to feature in the side.

“I feel certain fielding standards are critical. Now I haven’t done the Yo-Yo Test. We had the beep test, which is more or less similar,” said Tendulkar.

“But that shouldn’t be the only criterion. It should be a mixture of fitness and also looking at the ability of a player. I think Yo-Yo test is important but also looking at the ability of the player and how fit or unfit the player is.”

Tendulkar, who might not have been as athletic as the current Indian crop, but he possessed incredible match fitness, which meant that in all 200 of his Test matches, all through the mind-boggling twenty-four years of cricket he played, he never looked like a lethargic figure on the field. Be it running between the wickets, or doing the hard yards of fielding near the ropes even at the fag end of his career, he was always fit enough to execute the tasks required of a cricketer on the field.

Last month, Mohammad Shami, Sanju Samson and Ambati Rayudu all had to face the embarrassment of missing out on the tour of England after being selected and despite all being in fine touch in their respective trades, just because they failed to hit the required score of 16.1 in the yo-yo test.

Tendulkar also touched upon the topic of English pitches possibly assisting spinners because of the recent heat wave. He called the resulting conditions a potential double-edged sword from India's perspective.

He remarked, "So, if the surfaces are going to be like that (one-day series) in a five-day game, then our spinners are surely in the game. They will also hurt Indian batters," referring to the elongation of the two match-winning spells bowled by Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, who might have an outside chance of featuring in the squad to take on India in the first Test after he foxed Virat Kohli in the decider ODI.