Sanju Samson fails to clear Yo-Yo Test, ruled out of India A's tour of England

New Delhi, June 11: Sanju Samson's dream to make it to the Indian side suffered a major roadblock as the young Kerala cricketer failed to clear the Yo-Yo fitness test. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has now ruled the 23-year-old batsman out of India 'A' tour of England.

As per media reports, the India A squad which is being led by Shreyas Iyer has left for London from Delhi on Sunday (June 10) but Samson was left behind in India.

However, there was no immediate information on Samson's score in the Yo-Yo test - the new benchmark for fitness for Indian players - but a Mumbai Mirror report claimed that the Rajasthan Royals' cricketer has fallen way short of the prescribed 16.1 mark.

Samson had a terrific season for Rajasthan Royals in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) scoring 441 runs.

According to the report, the wicketkeeper-batsman reported to the fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru on June 9 along with other 'A' team players and had not trained enough ahead of the tests due to a few niggles.

Samson's replacement has not been named yet a player will be sent to England in a few days. Delhi's Rishabh Pant is the designated keeper in the squad.

Experts have been backing Samson as one of the potential replacements for MS Dhoni in the limited-overs' format. It is his technique and patience which many felt could ensure him a Test cap in the national side for the existing wicketkeepers are already in their thirties.

Meanwhile, Indian national squad also went for the Yo-Yo test on June 9 ahead of their Test match against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, starting June 14. All the players in the squad passed the test.

The India 'A' tour of England will begin with an ODI tri-series against England Lions (A team) and West Indies A, from June 22.

India A will play a four-day 'Test' against the 'Lions' from July 16-19 at Worcester apart from a couple of three-day games against county sides. Seven Test team regulars will be there in the UK after completion of Afghanistan Test to get into the groove.

India 'A' team for One-Day Tri-series in the UK: Shreyas Iyer (Capt), Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shubhman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Vijay Shankar, K Gowtham, Axar Patel, Krunal Pandya, Prasidh M Krishna, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakur.

India 'A' team for four-day matches in the UK: Karun Nair (Capt), R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, AR Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne, Vijay Shankar, KS Bharat (wk), Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Ankit Rajpoot, Md Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Rajneesh Gurbani.