Picture Credit: AP
The Indian Premier League has reached its final stage and Indian players will soon resume their national duties, starting from the five-match T20I series against South Africa. An 18-member squad has already been announced and KL Rahul will once again lead the squad as Rohit Sharma has been rested.
Players selected for the South Africa series will participate in a stiff fitness camp being organised by the board at National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Reportedly, a two-day fitness camp will commence on June 5 and will be strictly monitored by NCA Chief VVS Laxman and physio chief Nitin Patel.
According to a report published in India.com, BCCI will keep a close eye on players' performance in the fitness camp and if any player failed to pass even by a slight margin, he will be kept away from the bilateral series.
Notably, Harshal Patel is one of the selected players who recently suffered stitches and the Bangalore pacer will have to go through the litmus test before making it into the T20 squad for South Africa series. Earlier, BCCI instructed all the players and franchisees to strictly follow the fitness routine lay down by the NCA and its direct role in it. The mandatory fitness rule for Team India are as follows-:
1) Time trials are one of the major fitness tests which are taken by the board before any player embarks in any series.
- The benchmark of the time trial for fast bowlers will be 8 minutes and 15 seconds.
- For batsmen, wicket-keepers, and spinners, the standard will be 8 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Elite athletes are expected to complete 2 km in around 6 minutes, and amateurs in 15 minutes.
2) Another major criterion to make the cut into the squad is the Yo-Yo test and the minimum requirement for the test is 17.1.
- The yo-yo test is a maximal aerobic endurance fitness test that involves running between two markers (B and C), placed 20 meters apart.
- A beep indicates the players to run. The players have to run towards the other marker (C) with the first beep, while they must return back (B) before the second and third beep.
- The marker (A) is set for recovery.
After the completion of NCA Camp, players will fly out to New Delhi on June 7, 2022, to play the first T20I scheduled to be played at the Arjun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on June 9.