Australia skipper Pat Cummins has suggested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to allow teams to carry more than 15 players in their squads for tournaments like World Cup. His statement is coming even as Australia have only 13 players available for their next game against arch-rivals England on Saturday (November 4). The match is set to be played at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Glenn Maxwell suffered a freak injury getting concussed and has been ruled out of this encounter while all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has flown back home for personal reasons. While both are expected to return at a later date in the mega event, Cummins lamented the limited player availability for the crucial clash against England. He also cited New Zealand’s example who have crippled with multiple injuries to key players and have just about 11-12 players fit for their match against Pakistan on Saturday.
“Yeah, to be honest. It’s a two-month tournament. You wouldn’t want to be in a position like New Zealand. They have had some injuries and, luckily, they’ve been able to hold Kane (Williamson) in the squad. But if suddenly you had to rule him out, I think that wouldn’t be good for cricket or World Cup. It’s not like you can poach players from other countries, so I always think of as many players as you need, you should be able to pick from,” he said in the pre-match presser.
“Yeah, it’s not ideal. Both have been star players of the tournament at different times. We knew at the start of the tournament we were going to need a full squad of 15. I’m not even sure we’ve played the same 11 two games in a row through injury or selection. But we knew over a two-month tournament you’re going to have to chop and change a bit,” Cummins added.
However, the Australia captain is confident that Maxwell will only miss in the game against England and will be fit in time for the next match against Afghanistan. “Maxi’s, hopefully, for the clash against Afghanistan, so he’ll just miss this one. But he trained well yesterday and is taking it day by day. Mitch we’ll wait and see — he’ll definitely come back. I don’t think it’ll be a super long trip back home to Perth but the main thing is he’s back home and we’ll give him as much time and space as he needs,” Cummins said. He was also hoping for the entire squad to be available for the knockout stages if Australia make it to top four.
