BCCI introduces ‘serious injury replacement substitute’ rule in multi-day competitions

The BCCI has introduced a “serious injury replacement substitute” rule for in domestic cricket to prevent injured players from risking themselves further in the match.

This applies to games that take place over multiple days and will come into effect from the Duleep Trophy, which opens the 2025-26 season on August 28.

It will be active in the Ranji trophy as well, India’s premier first-class cricket competition.

This replacement can be any non-playing member of the squad, should be like-for-like, and will need an approval from the match referee after teams are able to medically produce a report that underlines the seriousness of the injury of the concerned player.

The injury has to have happened during the game and needs to be external (like taking a blow resulting in a deep cut or fracture) rather than internal (like a hamstring strain).

This addition was debated within the BCCI circles in the aftermath of Rishabh Pant batting with a broken foot against England in Manchester, and has been swiftly incorporated into the playing regulations.

The regulation states, “under all circumstances, the serious injury replacement player shall be from nominated substitutes at the time of toss.

“Only in the case where the wicketkeeper is seriously injured and needs a replacement then the match referee may allow a wicketkeeper from a player outside the nominated substitutes if there is no wicketkeeper in the nominated substitutes.”

Both the player being replaced and the replaced player shall be considered to have played in the match for records and statistical purposes.

At present, international cricket only allows substitutions in the event of a player suffering concussion or contracting the Covid-19 virus.

During India’s tour of England earlier this year, Pant (foot) and Chris Woakes (shoulder) suffered dislocations, which left their respective teams in a 10 vs 11 battle.

Both players braved further injury to come out and help their team’s cause, which added to the debate about whether there needs to be place in the rules for substitutions in case of serious injury. India coach Gautam Gambhir was for it. England captain Ben Stokes was less so, arguing that the system could be gamed.

The ICC, in reviewing its own playing conditions earlier this year, was open to the idea of its member nations trialling injury substitutes in domestic cricket. (ESPNcricinfo)