Karachi, Dec. 17: The Pakistan Cricket Board has got an extension of deadline till January 5 to announce its 2011 World Cup preliminary squad after it sought time from the ICC to complete the inquiry through its integrity committee into suspicions surrounding the activities of three players.
A board official confirmed that the ICC had been approached to give an extension as the December 19 deadline for announcing the 30 players is just two days away.
“The ICC today gave the extension until January 5,” the PCB official said.
Sources said that the PCB had some doubts over the activities of Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik and it had decided to have a look at integrity committee report before deciding on including them in the World Cup squad.
“The announcement of the World Cup squad has been delayed because the board is now holding its own inquiry and has asked Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik to submit more details of their bank accounts, movable and immovable property and other assets including foreign accounts,” the source said.
“The scenario is that since PCB has given a commitment to the ICC that it would not select any player whose integrity is in doubt, that is why it is now investigating these three players themselves and also met with them on Wednesday,” he said.