The Bronco Test is the newest addition to India's fitness assessments' toolkit.
One of the most important pre-requisites for a successful career across formats is fitness. In today’s day and age, with the stupendous rise in the frequency of matches played, it is imperative for a player to maintain peak levels of fitness. For a youngster rising up the ranks with an objective to play all three formats, fitness becomes vital. After the Yo-Yo test, a new measure called the Bronco test has come to the limelight.
After Virat Kohli showed the importance of fitness in his initial years at the helm, India introduced the Yo-Yo test. This was under the guidance of India’s former strength & conditioning coach, Shanker Basu. The test aimed at achieving peak fitness levels, and quickly became a benchmark for the fitness standards.
After eight years after the introduction of the Yo-Yo test, it is not the only measure to the fitness levels. India’s strength & conditioning coach Adrian le Roux recently introduced the Bronco test as another benchmark for fitness and selection standards. This new test is designed to push the players to their maximum cardiovascular limits, and is traditionally used in the game of rugby.
Former South Africa player AB de Villiers has revealed a different side of the newly introduced fitness test. De Villiers, who did not have an idea about what the test was about in his initial years, later came to realize its depth and tough nature. The South African legend referred to the test as one of the most difficult ones.
To add to that, he also spoke about how the conditions in South Africa used to affect the player. Colder conditions in Pretoria used to make it far more difficult for the players to ace it. Not having a lot of oxygen at high altitude levels would often make the lungs burn.
The demands of the game now require the players to be fitter than what they used to be before. The ability of a player to recover in time for the subsequent game becomes crucial. Hence, the rise in fitness levels is no surprise.
“I’ve been doing it ever since I was 16 years old. Over here in South Africa, we call it the sprint repeat ability test. It’s one of the worst you can do. At SuperSport Park, in the cold winter mornings of South Africa in particular, where there’s not a lot of oxygen. The altitude here is, I think, 1,500 meters above sea level. So, not a lot of oxygen, and those lungs would burn”, said de Villiers on his YouTube channel.
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Both the tests are focused around measuring the players’ endurance. Though there are slight differences in both the tests, the goal for both is to make players run at various speeds. Along with the Yo-Yo test, the Bronco test is also set to add to India’s fitness standards. However, there are a few points which separate the two from one another.
The Yo-Yo test was all about running between a fixed distance, i.e., two cones which were placed 20 metres apart from each other. The players would have audio cues, indicating when to start and turn. The speed of the run would increase with every round, requiring more aerobic effort and intensity. After each round of shuttle runs, a recovery period of around 10 seconds used to be allotted. The player would have to keep running till the time one fails to reach the line before a beep.
On the other hand, the Bronco test is a drill which includes running between various distance frames, namely 20 metres, 40 metres and 60 metres respectively. The distances will have be covered in the form of shuttle runs, which would be performed five times in succession without a break. This would enable the player to cover a total distance of 1200 metres. A slight difference from the Yo-Yo test is, that this assessment is continuous in nature and tests the cardiovascular ability of a player under high stress.
For these reasons, how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) choose to conduct the test will become far more important. Players playing all the three formats would be in the radar for an injury. In such a scenario, caution is the least thing the board can ensure.
