ICC gives September 10 deadline to countries to announce T20 World Cup 2021 squads

Picture Credit: T20 World Cup 2021

The 2021 T20 World Cup is set to take place in UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14. Although the event was originally scheduled to happen in India, BCCI was forced to shift the venue because of the ongoing pandemic situation in the country. After the venue was confirmed, ICC has also began the final preparations with the mega event just around two months away from now.

With so much speculation around the size of the squads for World Cup considering the COVID-19 situation, an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently confirmed to a news agency that they have been instructed by the cricket governing council to announce squads of only 15 members, in addition to 8 staff members.

Teams will have to bear the costs of additional members

The PCB official did reveal that they have been given permission to take a few additional members with the squad in case someone suffers from COVID-19. However, ICC won't be covering the expenses of those players.

"The ICC has also allowed all participating nations to bring additional players with their squads because of the COVID-19 situation and bio-secure bubble but the concerned boards will have to bear the costs of these additional players,” the official told PTI.

Deadline to submit the squads will be September 10

It has also been revealed that the boards have also been given a deadline of September 10 to submit the list of 15 players and 8 staff members. However, the participating nations will be allowed to make any last-minute changes due to any reason, provided the request is made five days prior to the start of quarantine period for the team involved. It will be quite interesting for all the teams as the final squads will have to be announced before the commencement of second phase of IPL 2021.

Notably, it will be up to the respective boards regarding the number of additional players they will take to UAE. Considering the sequence of events that took place during India's tour of Sri Lanka, where as many as 8 players were forced to isolate, all the boards would be considering to take a few additional players along with the squad to ensure that they are prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.