Test captain Shubman Gill and ODI captain Rohit Sharma are among the Indian cricketers who passed the pre-season fitness test on Sunday at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Gill’s teammates Jasprit Bumrah and Jitesh Sharma have both met the fitness requirements, and Gill will depart for Dubai for the Asia Cup on September 9. The 25-year-old batsman from Punjab was selected as India’s vice-captain for the T20 tournament.
Since Gill had to withdraw from the Duleep Trophy, where he was named the North Zone captain, due to a fever and had been recuperating in his hometown for the past several days, a fitness test became mandatory for him.
Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shardul Thakur were among the other players that passed the CoE test without any hiccups.
The fitness test also included a DXA scan, a streamlined technique for assessing bone density, in addition to the now-standard Yo-Yo test.
While Thakur will stay in Bengaluru to manage the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal versus Central Zone starting on September 4, Jaiswal and Washington are both on the standby list for the Asia Cup.
Although Rohit has no immediate plans after retiring from Test and Twenty20 cricket, the veteran batsman may visit Australia for an ODI series in November. Before that, he might play three one-day matches for India A against Australia A at Kanpur on September 30, October 3, and October 5.
Although confirmation is still pending, Rohit is probably going to remain in Bengaluru for a few more days in order to train at the CoE.
Since Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, and Riyan Parag (standby) have already represented their respective Zonal teams in the Duleep Trophy semifinals, it is not possible to conduct a second fitness test for them at this time.
Dhruv Jurel, a standby player and wicketkeeper, was forced to miss the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal because to a groin niggle.
However, the medical staff is still keeping an eye on the Central Zone captain, who was replaced at the helm by Rajat Patidar against the NorthEast Zone.
