Former Team India player Manoj Tiwary believes the Bronco Test has been introduced to keep a few players out of the side. After the recent England tour, the BCCI introduced the Rugby-inspired fitness Test, replacing the Yo-Yo Test, for player eligibility in terms of fitness as well.

He told Crictracker: “I believe this Bronco Test, which was introduced a few days back, I think it is for the players like Rohit Sharma and someone who I believe they don’t want them to be part of the team in future. “And that’s why it has been introduced. It has been brought in, obviously, to set the fitness parameter at the highest level, but also I believe it has been introduced to keep a few players out, as like what happened when our Indian great legends like Gambhir, Sehwag, and Yuvraj, and others were doing really well.”

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He again shared, “The Bronco Test will be one of the toughest fitness test parameters which has been introduced by the Indian cricket. But the only question is, why now? Why not when your new head coach got the assignment from the very first series? Whose idea is it? Who introduced this? Who enforced this Bronco Test a few days back?”

Manoj Tiwary also backed Shreyas Iyer to become India’s next ODI captain after Rohit Sharma announced his retirement. However, he feels Iyer might have stiff competition from Shubman Gill for the captaincy role.

“I would say Shreyas Iyer, because the way he has led, wherever he has led in the franchise cricket, I have not seen him in the first-class cricket, but he has got a trophy as well for Mumbai in domestic as well. In 2024, KKR emerged champions, where he was a captain, but he didn’t get the credit which he was supposed to get. Now, the PR runs in such a way that the credit is given to only one individual in the team. But at the same time, he will be fighting this captaincy battle with Shubman Gill because the current coach, Gautam Gambhir, likes Shubman Gill more than Shreyas Iyer. So there will be a fight,” Manoj Tiwary concluded.