A reserve player in cricket is a player who travels with, or stands by for, a squad without being part of it, ready to be called in if a squad member is injured or falls ill. Reserves are also called standbys. The term came up a lot when India named four travelling reserves for the 2024 T20 World Cup, and it often gets mixed up with substitutes, who are a different thing altogether.

Reserve player meaning in cricket

A reserve is not in the squad. He travels with the team (a travelling reserve) or stays at home on standby, trains with the players and often bowls in the nets, but cannot play unless he is formally added to the squad as a replacement.

At ICC events such as the World Cups and the Champions Trophy, each team names its squad by a deadline. After that, a player can only be replaced with the approval of the event’s Event Technical Committee, normally because of injury or illness, and the request has to be backed by medical evidence. Once a player has been replaced, he cannot come back into the squad unless he is himself approved as a replacement for another injured or ill player. A replacement is usually, though not always, one of the named reserves.

India’s travelling reserves at the 2024 T20 World Cup

When India announced their 15-man squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup in April 2024, they also named four travelling reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.

None of them was needed. Gill and Avesh were released after the group stage in the United States, as planned when the squad was picked, while Rinku and Khaleel stayed with the team for the rest of the tournament, which India went on to win.

Reserves are not substitutes

A substitute is someone who comes on during a match, and there are two kinds.

  • Substitute fielder: under Law 24 of the Laws of Cricket, umpires allow a substitute to field for a player who is injured or ill, or for another wholly acceptable reason. A substitute fielder may not bowl or act as captain, and may keep wicket only with the umpires’ consent.
  • Concussion replacement: since 1 August 2019, international teams can replace a player who suffers a concussion during a match. The replacement must be like-for-like, needs the match referee’s approval, and can bat and bowl.

Past examples of reserves called up by India

At the 2022 Asia Cup, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar were both standbys. Axar was called into the squad when Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out with a knee injury, and Chahar replaced Avesh Khan, who was ruled out with an illness.

At the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, Rishabh Pant was brought into the squad to replace the injured Shikhar Dhawan.

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