BCCI's Massive Move On Player Replacement Rule After Rishabh Pant Injury: Report

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly come up with a change in the player replacement rule in multi-day cricket matches at domestic level from 2025/26 season. It has introduced a 'Serious Injury Replacement' rule for the players who get severely injured and thus find it hard to continue playing the game, the report stated. This move from the apex cricket board of India comes after the senior national team's five-match Test series against England saw two players Rishabh Pant and Chris Woakes getting seriously injured during the fourth and fifth Tests, respectively, yet playing the game in extreme pain as there is no such rule in international cricket.

It is worth noting that at the highest level of cricket, a like-for-like replacement is allowed only in the case of concussion. In any other case, the player could not be replaced completely. Only the fielding and wicketkeeping replacements for the injured player could be provided.

However, in Indian domestic multi-day cricket matches, the rules will be different to that at international level. "If a player sustains a serious injury during the course of the relevant match, a Serious Injury Replacement may be permitted in the following circumstances. The serious injury must have been sustained during play and within the playing area described in clause," wrote Cricbuzz in a report while quoting the newly-introduced rule change.

The replacement for injured players (apart from concussion) had divided opinions during the recently-concluded India vs England Test series. While India's head coach Gautam Gambhir welcomed the idea, England Test captain Ben Stokes was quite against it.

"Absolutely, I'm all for it. 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," Gambhir had said after Pant's injury during the fourth Test in Manchester.

On the other hand, Stokes said, "It's absolutely ridiculous that there's a conversation around an injury replacement. There would just be too many loopholes for teams to be able to go through. You pick your eleven 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."

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket Rishabh Pant Chris Woakes India Cricket Team England Cricket Team England vs India, 2025