It is believed that former captain MS Dhoni brought the ‘fielding’ culture in the Indian team. The glimpse of which was seen in the 2013 Champions Trophy in England when the Men in Blue exhibited an entirely different avatar and fielded better than any other side.
The inheritance of such culture has been continued by current skipper Virat Kohli as well. He himself is a stunning fielder. Due to such culture, the ‘Yo-Yo fitness test’ has become an indispensable part of the players’ selection criteria.
The ‘Yo-Yo test’ is a compulsory fitness test for the Indian players which came into existence in 2016. It’s a test for a player’s stamina and endurance level.
Recently, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif had claimed that not many would’ve cleared the ‘Yo-Yo test’ had it been conducted in his era. He felt that only him, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Yuvraj Singh would’ve cleared this test.
“Fitness is very important for cricketers. If we did the Yo-Ye test during our time, Balaji and I could have fulfilled that criteria, even Yuvraj Singh was good. But, I do not think that others would have passed the Yo-Yo test,” Kaif had said.
Now, Irfan Pathan, who was also the part of the team when Kaif played, pulled his former teammate’s leg for making such comment. While speaking in a live session with his brother Yousuf Pathan and Kaif, Irfan took a funny dig at Kaif and asked whether the remaining cricketers were selling nuts.
“I heard your statement that in our time if the yo-yo test was there, only Balaji, you and Yuvraj would’ve passed. Fir hum kya kar rahe the… chane bech rahe the hum? (laughs) (What we were doing? Were we selling nuts?)…” said Irfan.
The former all-rounder further said that he used to run alongside Kaif and was just 0.5 points behind the Prayagraj-born.
“I used to run alongside you competitively, you used to make 16, and I did 15.5 on average,” added Irfan.
