Indian Premier League governing council slated to meet on August 2. The reason for this meeting is to decide on the strength of each squad and they are also looking to formalize the standard operating procedure for this year’s tournament.
Normally an IPL franchise has 20-25 players in its squad and more than 15 support staff. This time the franchises will organize their bio-secure protocol after reaching UAE. So, the franchises could be forced to limit the number of travelers. With more people in the bio-secure bubble for almost 2 months, it would be difficult for each of them to maintain the limitations.
Last time when IPL was played in UAE in 2014, teams carried the full-strength squad with no restrictions. Usually, the franchises release several players in the mid-season who aren’t close to the playing XI. On the other hand, the franchises believe that there shouldn’t be any compromise on the number of players in the squad, they could limit the support staffs but not the players.
“If at all there are directions on the squad strength, then the franchises would prefer to prune their non-playing staff. Some franchises will leave this decision to the coach and team management. Ideally, if there is a cap then it should be on the entourage as a whole. On match days, there could be a cap on the number of people a franchise brings to the ground. Even a few from the support staff could be asked to stay back in the hotel,” a senior franchise official told TOI.