India announced the 15 men squad for five matches ODI and a lone T20 against Sri Lanka. Though many youngsters and MS Dhoni got a chance to be the team Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina missed out.

The duo failed to match the required score in a ‘Yo-Yo’ endurance test at the National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru.

Though Yuvraj Singh has failed to deliver the best in the recent matches, Suresh Raina has been a long time not a part of the national squad. He last played for India in a T20I against England in February. But as fitness remains the main aim for team selection, definitely they have to work on a lot.

The Indian team has to regularly undergo a series of fitness tests with ‘Yo-Yo’ endurance test being the most important of them. It is an advanced version of the ‘beep’ test that was used by teams before.

In the test, Cones are placed and marked out at 20 meters.  A player starts with his foot behind one of the lines and begins running when instructed. A player continues running between the two lines, turning when signaled by the recorded beeps. The test is stopped if the player fails to catch up with the pace within the two ends.

According to reports, the estimated ‘Yo-Yo’ score is 19.5 and upwards. Captain Virat Kohli, one of the fittest Indian cricketers, scores around 21 in the test. However, both Yuvraj and Raina scored well below the permissible level of 19.5 with Yuvraj barely touching 16.

“The current team think tank, coach Ravi Shastri, skipper Virat Kohli and chairman of selectors MSK Prasad have made it clear that fitness standards are non-negotiable. On an average, the Australian cricketers score 21 in Yo-Yo test. Here Virat, Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey regularly hit that score while others are either touching 19.5 or is hitting above that score,” a BCCI official told PTI.