Manoj Tiwary has raised concerns about the introduction of the Bronco Test, saying that it could be a way to exclude certain players from the national team. After the recent England tour, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) replaced the Yo-Yo Test with the Bronco Test, which uses Rugby-style fitness standards to determine player eligibility.

Tiwary pointed out that the difficulty level of the Bronco Test might lead to the exclusion of some players.

“In my opinion, the recently introduced Bronco Test seems to target players like Rohit Sharma, and it appears that there is an intention to remove players from the team in the future,” he told Crictracker.

“That’s the reason it has been introduced. While it is aimed to raise the fitness standards, I think it has come into practice to drop certain players, similar to what happened with Gambhir, Sehwag, and Yuvraj,” he added.

“The Bronco Test will be one of the toughest fitness bechmarks introduced in Indian cricket. But the real question is, why now? Why wasn’t it implemented when the new head coach took over right from his first series? Whose idea was this? Who introduced it? Who made the decision to enforce the Bronco Test just recently?”

Gautam Gambhir became the head coach of the Indian team, succeeding Rahul Dravid after the 2024 T20 World Cup. During this time, a number of senior players have also announced their retirement from Test cricket.