Dubai, September 12: Adrian Le Roux has begun his second spell with the Indian men’s cricket team, this time again as their strength and conditioning coach. The South African has already started making an impact on the squad by introducing the Bronco Test – a running drill aimed at measuring stamina, endurance, and speed.
Several Indian players such as Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, and others recently went through the test in the UAE, where the team is currently stationed for the ongoing 2025 Asia Cup tournament.
The Suryakumar Yadav-led side already began their campaign on a glorious note after thrashing UAE by 9 wickets in their opening game. The Men In Blue will now take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their second outing on September 14 at the Dubai International Cricket stadium.
The question however, arises that what made Le Roux introduce this new fitness routine for the players? The South African himself explained the reason in a video shared on the BCCI’s official website.
According to Le Roux, the Bronco Test is a simple drill that can be conducted anywhere, giving cricketers a quick way to evaluate their fitness levels. “The run we did today is the Bronco run. It’s not a new run or a new measurement. It’s been around for a number of years in different sporting codes and it’s just something we introduced recently within the team environment,” Le Roux said.
“The idea is two-fold. One is we can use it as a training mechanism and the second one we can also use it as a measurement. So we get a good idea where the players are in terms of their aerobic fitness and if we’re moving in the right direction,” he added.
As per Le Roux, the Bronco Test can be conducted anywhere and allows a player to assess his fitness.
“Well, it’s a field test. In other words, we can do it at any, any place, any ground around the world. As we travel, we can always use it. It also allows the player to assess himself sometimes. So it’s a very functional test that you can do any place,” he said.
Significantly, Le Roux’s first tenure with Team India was between January 2002 and May 2003. Later, he worked with the South African national side before joining IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.
In recent years, he was part of Punjab Kings’ support staff, before taking over from Soham Desai in the Indian camp.
