Indian squad likely to be selected by last week of April

NEW DELHI: India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies is likely to be named in last week of April as the ICC’s cut-off date for submission of teams is May 1, a BCCI source said on Saturday.

However, every participating team will get a chance to change players in their initial squad till May 25.

“The Indian team will be selected some time during the last week of April, the time by which the first half of IPL will be over and national selection committee will be in a position to assess form and fitness of the contenders,” a senior BCCI source said.

“The first batch of cricketers will leave for New York immediately after the end of the league stage of IPL on May 19. Those players, whose teams won’t qualify for the final four will be going early, like it happened during WTC finals last year,” the source added.

With the tournament being held in the USA and West Indies, it is expected that a few of the stand-bys will also travel with the team so that there is no logistical nightmare in case any player from the main squad gets injured or has to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances.

The four national selectors are travelling to watch most of the matches as this is the World Cup unlike other editions when they travel for a select few games but keep a track on TV.

It is learnt that there has been no instructions given to any of the Cup hopefuls about workload management as these two months they are under the franchise’s control.

“Obviously, if any centrally contracted or targeted player gets injured, his case will automatically come under the purview of the NCA’s Medicine and Sports Science team.

“Also for the centrally contracted players and targeted players (India A, Emerging India), the S&C coaches and physios need to keep NCA in loop. But when players are contracted with franchises, BCCI can’t dictate how many matches they will play. As far as bowlers are concerned, it is only four overs,” the source added.