Indian coach Gautam Gambhir has supported the introduction of injury replacements in Test cricket, while England captain Ben Stokes has labelled the proposed rule change “absolutely ridiculous”.
A fractured foot suffered by Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant on day one of the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford reignited debate surrounding injury replacements. The left-hander inside-edged an audacious reverse sweep off England seamer Chris Woakes onto his right boot, forced to retire hurt on 37.
He returned to the crease the following morning and added 17 runs before he was dismissed by speedster Jofra Archer for 54. The Test ultimately ended as a draw, with England leading the series 2-1 with one match to play.
Pant, later ruled out of the remainder of the series, took no further part in the Manchester Test, with substitute fielder Dhruv Jurel donning the gloves during England’s first innings.
Under current ICC playing conditions, teams can only replace a player in the starting XI if they are concussed or contract Covid-19, but Ghambir called for the option of substituting injured Test cricketers.
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“Absolutely, I’m all for it,” Gambhir said during Sunday’s post-match press conference.
“If the umpires and the match referee sees and feels that is a major injury, I think it’s very important. It’s very important to have this rule where you can get a substitute – that is, if it’s very visible. There’s nothing wrong in doing that, especially in a series like this where it’s been such a closely-fought series in the previous three Test matches. Imagine if we would’ve had to play with 10 men against 11. How unfortunate would this be for us.”
Last week, former England captain Michael Vaughan declared that cricket was stuck in the “dark ages” regarding its archaic injury substitution rules.
“We are the only team sport that does this,” Vaughan wrote in The Telegraph.
“What we are doing at the moment is intentionally depleting a contest by making one of the teams effectively play with ten men for four days of the match, on the back of bad luck.
“I have felt for many years that Test cricket should introduce substitutes for injuries that are clear and obvious, like we have seen with Rishabh Pant in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
“It was great theatre watching Pant come out to bat with a broken foot on the second morning. It was unbelievable courage, and there was some amazing skill to scramble 17 runs from 28 balls. But he was not fit to bat, could not run, and could have made the injury so much worse.”
However, Stokes warned that teams could exploit “loopholes” if Test cricket introduced injury replacements.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that there’s a conversation around an injury replacement,” Stokes said.
“There would just be too many loopholes for teams to be able to go through. You pick your eleven for a game; injuries are part of the game. I completely understand the concussion replacement; player welfare, and player safety. But I think the conversation should just honestly stop around injury replacements because if you stick me in an MRI scanner, I could get someone else in straightaway.
“If you stick anyone else with an MRI scanner, a bowler is going to show, ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got a bit of inflammation around your knee. Oh sweet, we can get another fresh bowler in’. I just think that conversation should be shut down and stopped.”
Pant, who scored 479 runs at 68.42 across the first four matches against England, has been replaced in the India squad by uncapped wicketkeeper Narayan Jagadeesan, who could make his Test debut in London this week.
“The character, the foundation of this team will be built on something that he did for the team and for the country as well,” Gambhir said of Pant.
“Any amount of praise is not enough for him, especially batting with a broken foot.
“Not many people have done that in the past, and he had put his hand up and that is why I say it. Any amount of praise (is not enough). I can sit here and talk about this for hours and hours. I think the generations to come forward will talk about this, and generations coming forward should talk about it that there is someone who’s batted with a broken foot.
“It’s unfortunate because of the kind of form he was in, but again he’s an important member of the Test side, and I hope he recovers quickly and comes back quickly, and try and deliver again for us.”
The fifth Test between England and India gets underway at The Oval on Thursday.
