Star India cricketer fails to clear YoYo test, set to be dropped from England-bound squad

India will tour Ireland for T20 Internationals scheduled for June 27 and 29. The tour of England, comprising three T20 Internationals, three ODIs and five Test matches, starts on July 3.

The YoYo test, which is the basic fitness parameter set by the Indian team management before any tour, was conducted at the National Cricket Academy ground, in the presence of Team India trainer Shankar Basu and the other support staff.

Ambati Rayudu is the only player in the UK-bound squad, who has failed to clear the fitness test. “His score is well below the permissible 16.1 set for the India and India A team. Rayudu will be dropped from the squad,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

A lot of people were shocked as to how someone who has scored close to 600 runs in the IPL couldn't maintain requisite fitness standard within three weeks of the tournament's completion.

It is learnt that Rayudu, who had a major role in Chennai Super Kings' victorious IPL campaign, performed well below-par in the range of 14.

It will be interesting to see who gets a chance in the ODI squad as Rayudu is now set to be dropped. Manish Pandey looks like the frontrunner.

Rayudu had made a comeback in the ODI squad after more than one and half years in wilderness largely on the back of his IPL performance.

Earlier, the neck injury which he sustained during the IPL had thrown Kohli's build-up for the UK tour in haywire as he had to pull out of a planned stint with Surrey in the County Championship this month.

Indian captain Virat Kohli and former India captain MS Dhoni being the most prominent ones.

Kohli didn't look in any discomfort while taking the advanced beep test as he matched Dhoni step for step along with Bhuvneshwar, Kedar Jadhav and Suresh Raina.

Incidentally Raina, who was one of the first players last year to have flunked the YoYo test (along with Yuvraj Sigh), has comfortably cleared it this time round.

The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Siddharth Kaul, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey were also seen taking the test after the batch comprising Kohli and Dhoni were done with theirs.

The YoYo test continued to be the ‘indirect’ selector of the Indian team as the failure to complete it is set to bring about another axing from the England-bound squad.

However, not all is bleak when it comes to the YoYo test. Several top Indian cricketers, who were not a part of the Test match against Afghanistan took the test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and cleared it successfully.

After the Sanju Samson and Mohammed Shami, another Indian cricketer has flunked the YoYo test on a day where India broke multiple records in their biggest ever Test win against Afghanistan.