Follow UsRishabh Pant’s injury in Manchester has certainly opened the door for a full-blown debate over the ICC’s current playing conditions, which prevent a replacement for injuries. As per the current playing conditions, the ICC only allows for replacements if the player is ‘concussed’, and not for external injuries.
India wouldn’t have had a choice but to force Pant to bat in the second innings of the Manchester Test if the situation arose. It has triggered several opinions, including India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has batted for injury replacements in Tests.
"Absolutely, I'm all for it [injury replacements]. 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,” Gambhir said in the post-match press conference.
“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,” he added.
However, England's captain Ben Stokes was against any rule change regarding injuries, stating that the pacers can exploit the grey areas.
"I think it's absolutely ridiculous that there's a conversation around an injury replacement," Stokes said.
On days four and five, Stokes himself was limping on the field, constantly holding his leg and refraining from an overarm throw to prevent his shoulder injury from aggravating. Despite that, Stokes believes that it will be easy to replace the bowlers, given that they are always carrying around an injury.
"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."
England might lead the series 2-1, but India’s fightback in Manchester will give them a new ray of hope going into The Oval Test.