Former India batter Aakash Chopra shared his views on Virat Kohli‘s controversial fitness Test, ahead of his potential return to the ODI team next month. According to a report in Dainik Jagran, Kohli was the sole India player not present at BCCI’s Centre of Excellent (CoE) for the Test, as he was examined in London. Speaking in a video posted by Crex, Chopra suggested while there is no confirmation whether Kohli gave his fitness Test in London, it really shouldn’t bother others even if he did.
“These are just speculations and reports at this point in time. There is no confirmation or clarification that Virat Kohli gave his fitness Test in London and others gave it in Bengaluru. Of course, he was not here, but we have not seen pictures as well of him giving it in London. But even if he has, let us assume he did, how does it matter?” said Chopra.
Chopra, however, suggested that Kohli’s case could be an example for the future as players could be allowed to take the test wherever they are.
“Honestly he just set the precedent that the next time if anyone is anywhere else they can give the fitness Test from there. If someone does this once then you draw a line in the sand that this is the rule. It may not be necessary in that rule for everyone to go to Bengaluru. If someone is available anywhere let them do the Test there,” he added.
“If there is even some truth in this, then it is a new normal. You and I are not going to get bothered or worried about it, right?” he said.
The report also claimed that the players who have given their fitness tests (fully or partially) are: Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Jitesh Sharma, Prasidh Krishna, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhinav Manohar, Rinku Singh, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Mukesh Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The fitness tests included assessments of the players’ yo-yo scores and basic strength tests. As per the report, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja are among the top stars whose tests will be done this month.
Phase 2 of the tests is also to be done, where the likes of KL Rahul, Akash Deep, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rishabh Pant will reportedly be tested.
