Rishabh Pant's injury forces ICC into action, external injury substitutes get green light
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The ICC is considering a provision for the replacement of players in cases of serious external injuries, and decisions are to be made soon.
Rishabh Pant's foot injury, which ruled him out of the fourth Test, has triggered the debate on the need for a provision for replacing players injured during the game on the field. The replacements might be like-for-like, considering a bowler to be replaced only by a bowler and a specialist batter by a batter.
Rishabh Pant's injury occurred during the first day's proceedings at Old Trafford, when he missed a full ball in an attempt to reverse-sweep Chris Woakes. However, due to no replacement and the team needing him, Pant made it to the field to bat with a broken metatarsal. This could possibly worsen the intensity of the fracture.
Hence, after the entire cricket fraternity is moved by this instance, the International Cricket Council is very close to including a provision for the like-for-like substitution for players injured on the field.
ICC to allow replacements for 'on-field' external injuries
After the recent developments within the International Cricket Council, a TOI source close to the ICC has revealed that the decision for a substitute who can bat or bowl is soon to be made by the ICC in their next cricket committee meeting.
“There is a chance that teams will get to bring in a replacement for serious external injuries. The matter is already under deliberation. A ratification is expected in the next ICC cricket committee meeting,” said the source.
“A player who suffers a serious injury on the field of play any time after the match has started (including any pre-match warm-up period) may be replaced for the remainder of the match by a fully participating like-for-like player,” the ICC was quoted as saying in a statement on June 25th.
Provision for such replacement implemented by ICC in domestic cricket
Ideally, the replacement provision has already been included by the ICC for the domestic matches; however, the international replacement rule is yet to be decided upon by the International Cricket Council. The implementation of such a rule has been highlighted after witnessing Rishabh Pant's condition at Old Trafford.
To this, former English skipper Michael Vaughan has voiced his thoughts in support of the player replacement rule, urging for a fair chance for all teams.
“Injury replacements should be permitted in Tests in the first innings of the game,” Vaughan was quoted as saying to the BBC.
“If there’s a genuine injury in the first innings, it affects the game and the entertainment, which fans pay money to watch. The first innings is a good cutoff to make it fair,” added the former English international.
Who will replace Rishabh Pant for the final Test?
With Rishabh Pant battling a massive injury, with the metatarsal of his right foot likely fractured, he is out of India's final Test against England at The Oval. Reports have claimed that Narayan Jagadeesan, the Tamil Nadu keeper-batter, is likely to join the squad.
However, it is evident that Pant is missing out, and Ishan Kishan, who was thought of as his initial replacement, has also been deemed injured and hence unavailable.
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