‘Toughest fitness test’: Ex-India star says BCCI introduced Bronco test to keep Rohit Sharma out of 2027 World Cup

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has alleged that the new Bronco fitness Test brought in by the Indian cricket board is a ruse to rule out players like Rohit Sharma from playing the 2027 ODI World Cup. Notably, Rohit has already retired from T20Is and Test cricket and has previously publicly stated that he wants to play for India in the upcoming ODI World Cup. 

In an interaction with Cricktracker, Tiwary was asked about the future of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the ODI World Cup to which the former India batter replied that while keeping Kohli out of the side would be a difficult task, the new test may have been brought for players to keep Rohit out of the side. 

“I think it will be very difficult to keep out Virat Kohli from the plans for the 2027 World Cup. But I have a doubt that they are going to look at Rohit Sharma in the scheme of things because… See, I’m a very keen observer of what’s going on in Indian cricket. And I believe this Bronco Test, which was introduced a few days back, is for players like Rohit Sharma and someone who I believe they don’t want to be a part of the team in the future. And that’s why it has been introduced,” Tiwary stated.

“You know, the Bronco Test will be one of the toughest fitness test parameters that has been introduced by Indian cricket. But the only question is, why now? Why not when your new head coach got the assignment from the very first series? Whose idea is it? Who introduced this? Who enforced this Bronco Test a few days back? So it is a question for which I don’t have an answer, but the observation says that it is going to be difficult for Rohit Sharma if he doesn’t work really hard on his fitness. And I think he will be stopped at the Bronco Test,” he added

Tiwary also added that a similar thing happenned after the 2011 World Cup when the yo-yo test was introduced in order to keep Indian legends like Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag out of the side. 

The Bronco Test is a running drill, popularly used in rugby and other field sports to check stamina, speed and mental strength. It is simple but tough.

Players run shuttles between three markers at 20, 40 and 60 metres. They start by running 60 metres and back, then 40 metres and back and finally 20 metres and back. This forms one set.