Last Updated on 8 months ago by Charbel Coorey
England captain Ben Stokes is strongly against the idea of an injury replacement in Test cricket. Speaking after the draw against India at Old Trafford, Stokes believes this rule can easily be manipulated and that injuries are part of the game.
During the Test, debates were rife as to whether injury replacements should be introduced after Rishabh Pant suffered a foot injury on day one. Pant bravely came out to bat on the second day, but that was his final involvement as Dhruv Jurel took the gloves and India lost just four wickets in the second innings.
The injury replacement is a rule coach Gautam Gambhir is behind. “Absolutely, I’m all for it,” he 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.”
England captain Ben Stokes against “ridiculous” injury replacement idea
However, Stokes disagrees. The England captain believes there will be lots of loopholes that teams can exploit in a sport that is conditions based.
“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.”
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India managed to save the fourth Test quite comfortably. It led to a tense final hour as the visitors chose to bat on. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar both struck deserved hundreds as India finished 425/4.
The fifth and final Test at The Oval begins on Thursday. Rishabh Pant has already been ruled out. Dhruv Jurel set to take his place in the India XI.
