Courtesy of the global pandemic, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to increase the size of squads for the upcoming World Cups. International teams will be allowed to take seven additional players or support staff, taking the tally to 30 for this year’s T-20 World Cup in India. Meanwhile, the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand next year will also follow the same protocol.
The previous limit for the total number of players and staff was 23, which generally included 15 players and eight staff. However, the size is now increased significantly to make sure that teams can combat the worst possible scenario of players getting infected by the virus.
The larger squads have been witnessed in numerous bilateral series played across the globe during the pandemic. Teams are also taking net bowlers along with them instead of opting for local players from the host nation.
A larger squad will also work in favour of a team like India since they have a very big pool of talent. The competitive edge might get affected due to this change in rule since weaker teams might not benefit from a bigger group. However, this move is needed due to the pandemic to make sure that the tournament runs smoothly.
ICC makes changes to umpire’s call
Along with increasing the size of squads for World Cups, ICC has also made a significant change to the umpire’s call. There has been a lot of debate surrounding this rule in the cricket fraternity as ex-players and current players had firm arguments against it.
ICC has decided to stick with this rule, but there is going to be a big modification to this rule. The height of the wicket zone has been increased to the top of the bails instead of the bottom of the bails. This rule change is going to favour bowlers, but ICC will be hoping that there will be less discussion surrounding the umpire’s call while going forward with this modification.