Injury replacement sees heavy debate with Gautam Gambhir and Ben Stokes taking opposite opinions on the matter.
Ben Stokes, the captain of England, views India coach Gautam Gambhir’s call for injury replacement in Test cricket as “absolutely ridiculous”.
Despite scans revealing a fracture in his right foot, India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant returned to action on the second day of the fourth Test match after retiring injured on the first day. While acknowledging Pant’s bravery, Gambhir stated that “any amount of praise is not enough for him” but added that in these situations, injured replacements ought to be allowed.
“Absolutely, I’m all for it,” Gambhir said. “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 ten men against 11. How unfortunate would this be for us.”
In lieu of Pant, India might have used a replacement wicketkeeper, Dhruv Jurel, but he would not have been able to bat in their second innings. Teams are permitted to substitute players under the ICC’s playing regulations in the event that a player has a concussion or contracts COVID-19, but wounded players cannot be replaced.
Stokes stated that the discussion should be “shut down and stopped” since any plan would have too many “loopholes” for teams to take advantage of. Nevertheless, some boards will test injured replacements at the first-class level later this year.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that there’s a conversation around an injury replacement,” Stokes said. “I think that there would just be too many loopholes for teams to be able to go through. You pick your XI 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.”