BCCI tightens selection policy with 200% fitness confidence rule for future squads

The BCCI now wants 200% certainty on a player's fitness and availability before he makes any squad. The decision follows a string of late withdrawals that drew criticism at the Centre of Excellence. Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy all carried fitness asterisks into the Afghanistan T20I squad.

Selectors must now have written medical clearance before they finalise a name. That replaces the old risk-on-risk-off habit of picking borderline cases and hoping they held up. The board is ready to name fewer players rather than carry passengers who might break down mid-series.

State associations will have to watch workloads more closely, and the Centre of Excellence will face tougher questions when assessments prove wrong.