India won't be penalised for not submitting CT squad within the deadline date

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has failed to abide the deadline given by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for submitting the squad for the Champions Trophy scheduled to start in England from June. April 25 was the deadline date for announcing the squad which India hasn’t done till now.

The officials are waiting for the April 26-27 ICC meeting at Dubai to see how the BCCI’s demand to reject the new revenue is received by the governing body. Despite the deadline expiring yesterday, there is no provision to penalise India for not providing the squad on time. The main reason behind BCCI’s disrespect for this structure is the absence of disciplinary measures.

The ICC gives the last date for submission of 15 member squads prior to ICC tournaments like World Cup, T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy. It is done for promotional purposes so that the faces of the cricketers can be used to market the event. This type of incident didn’t occur earlier as teams abide by the rules and submit their squads within the stipulated time.

An ICC official revealed that nothing can be done if a team doesn’t submit their squad within the deadline date. “Using names of players for event promotion is a revenue-generation exercise. There’s no fine or any other penalty for not submitting the names of players on time. Although not very often, it has happened in the past,” he was quoted as saying by the New Indian Express.

“Sometimes, teams say that due to uncertainty caused by fitness, they can’t finalise the 15. There have also been instances of teams saying that they are in the middle of an ODI series and giving the names afterwards. Because it’s a question of understanding between the ICC and member boards, nobody has ever spoken about sanctions for not meeting this deadline,” said the source.

Meanwhile, after this incident ICC will start a follow-up process of cajoling the concerned board to submit their teams within the stipulated time. “It’s not as if we have to keep setting deadlines. Member boards know the importance of this exercise and how it’s related to the ICC’s commercial well-being. We expect them to react accordingly,” he said.