No Bronco Test Yet for Indian Cricketers Before Asia Cup
Fitness, Yo-Yo, and Bronco have become key buzzwords in Indian cricket. Leading Indian cricketers recently underwent fitness assessments at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru before the Asia Cup 2025.
From Rohit Sharma to Arshdeep Singh, top players gave an account of their fitness after a long break. However, Bronco — recommended by new Strength & Conditioning coach Adrian Le Roux — was not part of the Bengaluru drills.
The cricketers completed basic health checkups, regular mobility, agility tests, and wrapped up with the Yo-Yo test. Explaining why Bronco was excluded, a source revealed, “It could happen when the squad assembles in Dubai for the Asia Cup. The team will start leaving late tonight (early morning of September 4) and have their first session at ICC Academy on September 5. So if the management and the S&C want to do a Bronco assessment, it could happen in Dubai. If at all it happens.”
Are Fitness Tests a Selection Criteria?
These fitness tests are not selection criteria but mandatory for all centrally contracted and targeted players. Athletes must prove their match fitness, especially after long breaks and before a new season.
Players returning from the Test series in England had extended rest. Some of them are now included in India’s Asia Cup squad. After the Asia Cup, India will host West Indies for Tests before touring Australia for white-ball matches.
Former S&C Coach Explains Fitness Tests
Former Strength & Conditioning coach Soham Desai explained to TimesofIndia.com that test formats often change with new leadership.
“During Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri’s time, they directed Shankar Basu to get fitness to a level leading into the 2019 World Cup. Those numbers were agreed with all the stakeholders involved and they wanted to keep it a serious affair so that people leading into the 2019 World Cup come to a particular level and then we play the World Cup. That was the whole vision. That’s why those numbers were agreed upon and shared and it became a selection criteria.
“But after that, we have done the Yo-Yo test three times a year for almost all contracted players every year. But it was never a selection criteria. It is a fitness assessment parameter where we as coaches, as people working in NCA (BCCI’s CoE), get an idea, a snapshot about their fitness at that particular level,” he explained.
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