AB de Villiers calls India’s Bronco test ‘one of the worst’. Here is why

Former South African dashing batter AB de Villiers has termed India’s Bronco test as one of the worst, as it burns out the lungs of the athlete. Notably, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to bring in the new fitness parameter to select players for the national team.

It’s worth noting that this move was brought in by the head coach Gautam Gambhir and Strength and Conditioning Coach Adrian le Roux. Interestingly, this fitness parameter is primarily used in Rugby. 

“I actually didn’t even know when the team told me about it. I said, ‘What is a Bronco Test?’ But when they explained it to me, I knew exactly what it was. 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,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“It’s one of the worst you can do,” he added. “I very clearly remember at the University of Pretoria, also 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,” he added.

It’s important to note that the Bronco test is a continuous shuttle run drill that includes repeated sprints over 20m, 40m, and 60m, performed five times in succession without breaks, covering a total of 1,200 metres. 

Team India ODI captain Rohit Sharma is expected to be among seven players to undergo a fitness test at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru on Saturday, August 30. He will be joined by Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammad Siraj, and Shardul Thakur.

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