Historic first! Maharashtra batter becomes BCCI’s first-ever ‘serious injury’ replacement in Duleep Trophy
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In the recently concluded match between West Zone and Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy 2025, the newly introduced 'serious injury' replacement rule was used by the West Zone side as their wicket-keeper and opening batter, Harvik Desai, missed the second innings due to a quadriceps injury.
The game of cricket is not known for mid-match injury replacements, except for substitute fielders who can take the field as a replacement for any injured player, but cannot adopt a batting or bowling role.
However, the recent incidents, including Rishabh Pant and Chris Woakes' injuries in the Manchester and Oval Tests, have forced the cricketing bodies to think otherwise.
Pant suffered a massive injury as his foot was fractured by the blow, but still had to come out to bat for India, since his replacement, Dhruv Jurel, could not take up any role with the bat for the game.
What is the BCCI's 'serious injury' rule introduced in domestic cricket?
The BCCI believes in the policy that charity begins at home, and so they made the first step to mark a change in the BCCI rules for injury replacements. The BCCI introduced the 'serious injury' replacement rule, which has guidelines for multi-day matches for the upcoming domestic season of 2025-26.
According to the rule, a substitute player can take the field when a player in the XI suffers a serious external injury during the course of an ongoing match. The injury must occur on the field and can include a fracture, deep cut, or dislocation that forces the player out of the game.
After such an incident, the decision will be made by the field umpires alongside the Match referee and the team doctor. Hence, the team coach or manager can then come up with a formal request for a replacement player.
However, no such rule has been specified for white-ball cricket.
Saurabh Nawale becomes the first batter to be drafted under the new role
Now, the player who turned out to be the first-ever player to have been roped in as an injury replacement player under the new rule set by the BCCI is Maharashtra batter Saurabh Nawale.
The incident took place in the Duleep Trophy 2025 semi-final clash between Central Zone and the West Zone, where West Zone opening batter Harvik Desai was ruled out with a quadriceps injury, prompting the umpires to allow the substitute batter Nawale to take the field as his replacement.
Nawale, though, could not make the most of this opportunity, as he was cleaned up for just 9 runs by off-spinner Saransh Jain. West Zone eventually could manage only 216/8 in their second innings as the two team players shook hands, and Central Zone qualified for the Duleep Trophy 2025 finals.
Central Zone advances to the Duleep Trophy 2025 Finals after a mammoth 600-run total
After the West Zone side posted a decent 438 runs total in the first innings on the back of Ruturaj Gaikwad's colossal 184-run innings, Central Zone batters pulled out a stunning team show to lead their team into the finals of the Duleep Trophy 2025.
A total of 6 batters from the Central Zone went on to score big half-centuries as they posted a mammoth 600-run total despite a single batter not getting off to a hundred. Danish Malewar, Shubham Sharma, Rajat Patidar, Upendra Yadav, Harsh Dubey, and Saransh Jain all scored half-centuries.
Jain took 8 wickets across two innings in the game and was one of the most crucial players to lead his side into the Duleep Trophy 2025 Finals against South Zone.
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Tagged:
Duleep Trophy West Zone Central Zone Rajat Patidar Harvik Desai BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Saurabh Nawale
