India’s Champions Trophy squad announcement postponed, BCCI requests ICC for extension
India’s Champions Trophy squad is unlikely to be announced this weekend. The BCCI has decided to delay the announcement, reported Cricbuzz on Saturday.
Initial reports suggested that the BCCI selection committee, led by former pacer Ajit Agarkar, would announce India’s squads for the home ODIs and T20Is against England and the provisional one for the Champions Trophy by January 12 (Sunday) after a meeting on Saturday, but now announcement of the Champions Trophy squad has been delayed.
The delay is kind of intentional. The report added that BCCI has requested more time from the ICC to finalise their initial squad for the Champions Trophy. Generally, all participating teams are expected to name a provisional squad at least a month before an ICC event, according to tournament guidelines but the parent body had requested all eight teams to name their provisional squad for the Champions Trophy five weeks before the start of the tournament.
“The BCCI, citing recent commitments in Australia for the Test series, is expected to request for more time. It is likely that the provisional Champions Trophy squad will predominantly feature players from the three home ODIs against England,” the report claimed.
When will India’s Champions Trophy squad be announced?
India’s Champions Trophy squad is now likely to be announced on January 19, exactly a month before the tournament kickstart, with hosts Pakistan taking New Zealand in the tournament opener in Karachi on February 19. Notably, teams can make changes to the provisional squad before the start of the tournament with prior intimation to the ICC but it is very likely that the squad Agarkar and his selection committee names on January 19 will be the final one for India unless there are any fresh injury concerns forcing a change. The provisional squad will be a 15-member one with three travelling reserves as per ICC guidelines.
The report also claimed that the ODI squad for the three-match series at home against England and the one for the Champions Trophy will more or less be the same. With the England series being the last opportunity to get some valuable match practice, the BCCI does not want to tinker too much with the composition.
Meanwhile, India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against England is expected to be announced either on Saturday or Sunday. The selectors are set to retain the squad that featured in the South Africa away series with a few tweaks here and there.
Review meeting BCCI officials, captain Rohit and coach Gambhir
The BCCI officials are set to sit with the selection committee, captain Rohit Sharma, and coach Gautam Gambhir to take stock of things. The Indian board, which is set to announce Devjit Saikia as the new secretary and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia as the treasurer, is set to ask the coach and captain a few tough questions related to India’s performance in Australia.
After a humiliating 0-3 whitewash at home against New Zealand, a lot was riding on the Australia tour but India ended up losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 despite winning the first Test by a record margin against all odds.
It is after the review meeting that the selectors would sit to pick the squads for the home series against England and discuss the prospects of India’s Champions Trophy squad.