YoYo Test: Indian team mark 16.1; Proactive Chhattisgarh aim for 17

These are ‘YoYo’ times in Indian cricket. While the Indian team has set a qualifying mark of 16.1, Chhattisgarh has set their goal as 17. Recently we have had a few national cricketers such as Sanju Samson and Ambati Rayudu who had failed the YoYo test and subsequently lost their place in the India A and India squads for the England series.

Chhattisgarh wants to be proactive on this front and are trying to ensure that their players are tuned to accomplishing anything in excess of 17 (17.1) with regards to YoYo.

On Monday, all the Chhattisgarh players, part of the training camp at Raipur, underwent a YoYo test. Chhattisgarh pacer Pankaj Rao, who was part of the last season’s Deodhar and Duleep Trophy, stated that the average YoYo mark achieved by the team was 16.8 and that the support staff have told the Chhattisgarh players to focus on achieving more than 16.8 (which would be 17.1) every time they take up the test.

However, pacer Pankaj stressed that the test “hasn’t yet” been made mandatory for the players.

“As a team, we have been doing our fitness camp in Raipur for the last one month. This year we want to raise our game standards by raising our fitness levels. That’s why individual screening has been done by our support staff. Yesterday we took the YoYo test. I cleared it with a score of 17.1. Our support staff have decided to raise the fitness standards and that’s why they took a team average of YoYo test (which is 16.8) and they decided 17 as our aim,” Pankaj told Sportskeeda on Tuesday.

Pankaj Rao (r) with Suresh Raina

The 28-year-old medium-pacer, who took 80 wickets across formats in the last two first-class seasons, further stated: “Though it’s not yet been announced mandatory, we have been told by the support staff to focus on achieving 17 so that it’s easier for us. The idea is if we achieve 17 then it will help us in the longer run for bigger challenges. It will also help us stay fit throughout the domestic season. As a team, we are really hoping to do well this season.”

It will be interesting to see how many state teams go the YoYo way ahead of the upcoming domestic season.