Yo-yo debate: Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri back fitness test but former cricketers may make crucial call

Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) is aware of the contrarian views surrounding yo-yo test, which has become a prerequisite for selection to the Indian cricket team.

CoA chairman Vinod Rai is likely to ask the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) why the yo-yo test should be the only fitness parameter for selection, reports Press Trust of India.

The CoA, which was appointed to oversee the operations of the BCCI, may also form a special panel, consisting former players and experts in order to get a second opinion about the much-talked-about test as Rai is already aware of what the dressing room's view.

Notably, India captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri only recently insisted that the yo-yo tests will remain to be an indispensable part of the team selection. The latter even added, in an indomitable tone, that the captain, the selectors, and the team management are on the same page about the tests.

"He [Rai] knows that there are contrarian views about how much importance should be given to the test. It's not decided but he might ask for a presentation from NCA trainers about this particular test," PTI quoted a BCCI source as saying.

"It [forming a panel] would be a more neutral view considering he knows where the team management stands on this issue," the source added.

Concerns were raised about the yo-yo test after the likes of Ambati Rayudu and Sanju Samson lost their chances to tour England along with the senior and 'A' teams after failing to clear the minimum score of 16.1 in the fitness test that measures the aerobic endurance of a player.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami also lost his spot in the Indian team for the one-off Test against Afghanistan after failing the much-talked-about fitness test.

Notably, the latest sets of yo-yo tests were conducted at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru after the teams for the Afghanistan Test and Ireland-England tours were announced.

The names of Shami, Samson, and Rayudu thus had to be embarrassingly withdrawn from the national and 'A' teams.

BCCI treasurer raises important questions about yo-yo test

Meanwhile, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry had written an exhaustive letter raising questions about the validity of yo-yo test, according to The Print.

The lawyer-turned-cricket administrator asks who made the call to make yo-yo test mandatory for team selection and how was the minimum score of 16.1 decided among other things.

Chaudhry also raised another important point when he queried if the decision about yo-yo test was communicated to all first-class and List A players and the state associations in the country.