BCCI introduces ‘serious injury substitution rule’ in multi-day tournaments

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to introduce “serious injury replacement substitute” rule in the multi-day tournaments in the forthcoming domestic season, starting with the Duleep Trophy.

The rule has been informed to all the domestic outfits and the participating teams in the Duleep Trophy. The replacement player, barring an exceptional case of a wicketkeeper, has to be from the nominated substitutes at the start of the game.

“Under all circumstances, the serious injury replacement player shall be from nominated substitutes at the time of toss,” states clause 1.2.8 of the playing conditions document, accessed by The Hindu.

“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.”

The rule amendment may be a step from the BCCI side to push for a similar rule amendment in international cricket. During the recently-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, both India and England were forced to play a major chunk of a Test with a seriously injured player.

While Rishabh Pant batted with a broken foot at Old Trafford, Chris Woakes walked out to bat at The Oval with a dislocated shoulder that was heavily bandaged.

Since then, the serious injury replacement issue has been widely discussed.

While the BCCI has been keen on the introduction of such a clause, the International Cricket Council is a divided house, with multiple cricketers being averse to the idea due to possible misuse of the rule.