cricket

Updated: Sep 27, 2018 12:57 IST

Indian captain Virat Kohli, who was rested was the Asia Cup, might have to prove his fitness by taking the yo-yo Test ahead of the home series against West Indies.

According to a report in Navbharat Times, the test will take place on September 28, after which the selectors could name the Test squad for the aforementioned series. This yo-yo test has been made mandatory by the BCCI and all the players have to go through the process before selection.

In the past, players have missed out on selection because they have failed the test, and as per head coach Ravi Shastri, there can be no leniency as far as fitness standards are concerned.

Kohli has had problems with his problems and it flared up again in England during the second Test at Lord’s.

“Yesterday and today, it wasn’t great. The back can be very tricky when it goes off. It happened in the latter half or the last leg of the South Africa tour when I missed a T20 game. That was very sudden, it happened a day before (the game),” Kohli told reporters after India crashed to defeat against England by an innings and 159 runs.

An Indian player has to score 16.1 in the test in order to be considered fit for selection.

Apart from Kohli, the selectors will also keep a close eye on R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma, as both players will go through a fitness test on September 29. Ishant played all the five matches in England, while Ashwin had to miss out the final test owing to a side strain and there are reports which suggest that the selectors might want to give him a break considering the Australia series which will follow this home fixture against West Indies.

The Test series between India and West Indies is slated to begin on October 4 in Rajkot. The second Test of the series will be played in Hyderabad from October 12. A five-match one-day series and three-match T20I series will take place after the Test series.