BCCI Review Meeting: Yo-Yo tests back as India shortlist 20 players for ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023

BCCI Review Meeting Takeaways: Yo-Yo tests back as India shortlist 20 players for ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023. Dexa scans to be part of selection criteria.

Yo-Yo Test and Dexa scans are mandatory for selection criteria (Images: ©Twitter)

With the new year well and truly set in, the focus of the cricketing world has shifted towards the upcoming ICC Men’s One Day International (ODI) World Cup 2023 which is set to take place in India in October-November.

India have been on the road of getting knocked out from the semis during the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments of late - whether it was against England during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final or the semi-final clash against New Zealand during the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2019.

Rahul-Rohit-Laxman discuss future roadmap for India

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reviewed India’s underwhelming performances in the recently finished T20 World Cup on January 1. Head coach Rahul Dravid, regular all-format captain Rohit Sharma, BCCI president Roger Binny, secretary Jay Shah, National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman and selection committee chair Chetan Sharma were present in the meeting.

“It was a very constructive and fruitful meeting where we have reviewed the past performance and planned for the future events, including World Cup and World Test Championship (WTC),” a BCCI source who attended the meeting spoke how they will look to prefer international cricket while making sure the Indian Premier League (IPL) isn’t diluted. “The issues for player availability, workload management and fitness parameters were also discussed at length during the meeting along with the roadmap to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.”

Let’s take a look at the vital points which were discussed in the review meeting.

Bumrah is yet to return to International cricket due to fitness concerns (Photo: ©BCCI/Twitter)

NCA and IPL franchises to work unitedly on players’ fitness during IPL 2023

One of the recent issues for India has been the injury of the top-class players of the national side; their premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were out of the T20 World Cup due to fitness concerns while young Deepak Chahar too has been unfit too often in his short-spanned career.

But a new decision has been made that the workloads of these key India players, particularly those with a history of injuries, will be monitored together during IPL 2023 by the BCCI and the IPL’s franchises. This decision has been made with the BCCI’s new policy for managing the workloads of players in the lead-up to both the 50-over World Cup this October and November and the probable World Test Championship (WTC) final in June, if India qualify for it.

The NCA’s medical team is understood to have submitted a roadmap on workload and injury management. However, the IPL franchises have also expressed their own emotions on the topic that during the IPL, BCCI can’t fix which player would play how many number of games during the whole season.

Read More: India forgoing winning mentality under Rahul Dravid?

Yo-Yo tests and Dexa to be part of selection criteria

Along with the workload management of India players for the ICC tournaments, there will be no compromise on the fitness level of the players with the Yo-Yo Test being the chief criteria. The Yo-Yo test is a variation of the Beep Test, a running aerobic fitness test that involves running between two sets of cones that are 20 metres apart. Once the first beep is sounded, a player has to reach the cone on the other side before the next beep.

In addition to the Yo-Yo test, the NCA panel has also recommended the addition of the Dexa scans to add more weight behind the fitness status of the players. The Dexa scan is the international standard for measuring bone health - a ten-minute test that measures total body fat and includes the exact breakdown of bone mass, fat tissue and muscle in the body.

“The Yo-Yo test and Dexa scan will now be part of selection criteria and implemented in the customised roadmaps of the central pool of players,” the BCCI said in a statement after the meeting.

Read More: BAN vs IND, ODIs, 2022-23: Ishan Kishan shows India correct approach for modern day LOI cricket

Tilak Varma surprised everyone in IPL 2022 with his batting (Images: ©BCCI/IPL)

Emerging players to play substantial amount of domestic cricket

One of the other topics to be discussed in the meeting was that the emerging players would have to now play substantial amount of domestic cricket before becoming eligible for selection to the national team as the BCCI press release stated. The aim behind this decision is that player participation in domestic cricket would make them available for all the formats and not prioritise one over the other one.

It has been observed that a few young players who have been roped in the national side straightaway after one or two good seasons of the IPL, tend to ignore domestic seasons whether in the ODI or T20 format or the Ranji Trophy. However, what duration has been described as the ‘substantial season’ or what one player does need to achieve to come under the ‘emerging player’ section is yet to be addressed.

Nevertheless, this move will help players to get used to the conditions prevalent in the domestic competitions and when they get in the national team, it will be beneficial for them to handle crunch crunch situations.

Read More: How India shape up with ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 less than a year away

BCCI shortlisted 20 players for ODI World Cup 2023 (Source: ©Getty Images)

BCCI shortlists 20 players for 2023 ICC Men’s ODI World Cup

BCCI has also shortlisted 20 players who will be part of the 2023 ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 which is going to take place in October and November in India. It has been decided in the meeting that these players will be rotated so that proper preparation is ensured before the tournament.

One of the main issues for India in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup held in 2019 was not knowing their set pool of players for the competition. With the injury concerns, they weren’t sure about the replacements which is unlikely to happen this time around with the new scheme. This will also allow the players to fix their issues and understand their positions for the upcoming World Cup.

As per the current schedule, India will play 15 ODI games ahead of the World Cup, excluding Asia Cup 2023 - and these games are going to be valuable going forward with the plannings for the mega ODI event.

India will play their next ODI games against Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series. The first game will be played on January 10 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The next two ODIs will be played on January 12 and 15, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, respectively.

Read More: BCCI AGM: Binny replaces Ganguly as BCCI president; India not to travel to Pak for Asia Cup 2023