Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar was not evasive as he lashed out critically against the International Cricket Council's (ICC) concussion substitute policy, calling the regulation "incompetent." Gavaskar felt that players who couldn't handle short-pitched balls shouldn't be playing at the Test level.
In a critical comment on Sony Sports, Gavaskar conveyed his strong dissatisfaction with the management of concussion substitutes, saying, "I've always believed that you are providing a like-for-like replacement for incompetence. If you are not capable of playing short-pitched bowling, do not play Test cricket; go and play tennis or play golf. You are providing a like-for-like replacement for a person who cannot play the short ball and gets hit."
The debate picked pace after India's Rishabh Pant was almost knocked out of the current Test series because of a broken foot. Gavaskar argued that if the ICC allows concussion replacement, then substitutions for injuries should also be allowed, particularly when a side is likely to be seriously depleted.
"Here, it is a blatant injury (Pant); there needs to be a replacement. I would like some sort of committee being formed to make a call on this. There is a cricket committee, ICC has a cricket committee, but currently that is led by Sourav Ganguly, the chairman of the ICC is Jay Shah, and the CEO of the ICC is Sanjog Gupta," Gavaskar observed.
He also stressed the need for neutrality in such actions to prevent any impression of bias, especially from overseas media companies. "So we don't want a situation for the media here in particular and in Australia to say, 'Oh, because it's an Indian situation, they have started to do that'.". So let it be an entirely different committee to review these injuries, perhaps with doctors, etc., and let that committee make a call," he said.
With or without his injury, Pant dauntlessly went out to bat in excruciating pain and managed to score a gritty half-century and enable India to reach a total of 358 in their first innings of the Manchester Test.
Read also| Stokes’ 5-for Holds India to 358 Despite Gritty 54 from Pant in 4th Test
