'Giving Substitute For Incompetence': Sunil Gavaskar Blasts ICC After Rishabh Pant Injury – News18

The debate over introducing injury substitute in cricket continues in wake of Rishabh Pant’s nasty foot injury that rendered him unfit to bat on the opening day of the ongoing 4th Test between India and England in Manchester. After inside-edging a low full toss from Chris Woakes onto his right boot while attempting a reverse sweep, Pant retired out and was taken for scans.
He did return on the second day but struggled to walk as he limped throughout his stay while scoring a half-century. The scan revealed he has a toe fracture and been reportedly advised rest for six weeks.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has advocated for injury subs while the likes of Alastair Cook and Parthiv Patel have expressed their reservations citing the potential of teams exploiting the rule to gain unfair advantage.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar is latest to voice his support for injury subs while being highly critical of the ICC for introducing concussion subs.
“I’ve always felt that you are giving a like-for-like substitute for incompetence," Gavaskar said on Sony Sports. “If you are not good enough to play short-pitched bowling, don’t play Test cricket; go and play tennis or golf. You are giving a like-for-like substitute for somebody who can’t play the short ball and gets hit."
Gavaskar demanded the appointment of an ICC committee to explore the possibility of allowing teams to name replacements in case a player gets injured midway during a match.
“Here, it is a clear injury (Pant); there has to be a substitute. I want some sort of committee appointed to take a call on this. There is a cricket committee, ICC has a cricket committee, but at the moment, that’s headed by Sourav Ganguly, the ICC chairman is Jay Shah, and the ICC CEO is Sanjog Gupta," Gavaskar said.
Swipe Left For Next Video
Gavaskar then took a shot at English and Australian media while advising that a different committee should be formed to have a relook so as to avoid claims that the decision is being made since an Indian player is involved.
“We don’t want a situation for the media here (England) in particular and in Australia to say, ‘Oh, because it’s an Indian situation, they have started to do that’. So, let it be a totally different committee to look at these injuries, maybe with doctors, etc., and let that committee come to a call," he said.
Latest Blogs

source