Former India captain Virat Kohli underwent a fitness test ahead of the Asia Cup 2023 tournament which starts next month. Kohli joined other Team India cricketers in Alur for the national camp for Asia Cup 2023 and had to undergo a ‘Yo-Yo’ Test on Wednesday.
In a Instagram story, Virat Kohli shared that he cleared the ‘Yo-Yo’ Test in Alur with a score of 17.2. ‘Yo-Yo’ test is an endurance test for both physical fitness as well as mental strength. There are two cones set 20 meters apart from each other.
The cricketers are expected to run from one cone to another and then return back to the starting point within a stipulated time. There is a beep to signify the same. If a player fails to reach the point before the beep, he is given a warning. After completing every run, there is a 10 second break followed by another round. With each round, the stipulated time to reach the cone decreases.
As soon as a player exhausts his limit of three warnings, the speed level attained till that point is calculated. Kohli hit 17.2 to easily cross the minimum speed level in ‘Yo-Yo’ Test set by Team India. The 18 players who are in contention to be in the Cricket World Cup 2023 squad will undergo extensive fitness and medical tests at Alur as the BCCI doesn’t want to leave a stone unturned ahead of the marquee event.
Generally, elite athletes, such as professional soccer players scores around 18 to 22 (the lesser you score, the better it is) in the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1).
Virat Kohli just did it in 17.2 __ pic.twitter.com/sbKTBMjABI
— David. (@CricketFreakD3) August 24, 2023
While most of these tests are routine in nature and are conducted by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) or BCCI's medical team from time to time, it assumes greater significance ahead of the World Cup, which will be held in October-November.
“Yes, the routine fitness tests of most of the players save those who have just played a series in Ireland will be conducted (Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson) along with mandatory blood tests,” a BCCI source privy to the development told PTI news agency on the condition of anonymity.
Among the parameters that will be checked include lipid profile, blood sugar (fasting and PP), uric acid, calcium, Vitamin B12 and D, creatinine, testosterone. There are times when Dexa tests are also conducted. It is a type of scan to check the bone density.
“There is nothing new in what all are being done in between the series when players go through a break. They have individual diet charts as per their body type requirement and also customized training module,” the source, who has also worked at NCA, said.
(With PTI inputs)
