Rishabh Pant went off injured after hurting his hand on day one of India's third Test against England at Lord's. Despite the ICC being set to trial full substitutions in the coming months, the rule change will come too late for India to replace Pant in their XI if needed.
Rishabh Pant goes off injured during Lord's Test
Pant suffered a blow to his hand shortly after the lunch interval. Attempting to take a delivery angled down the leg side from Jasprit Bumrah which Ollie Pope had missed, the ball struck Pant on the end of his fingers. The keeper looked in immediate pain as thumped the ground in frustration, and play had to be stopped for some time in order for him to receive treatment. After the India physio sprayed his hand with 'magic spray' and applied more tape to his fingers, Pant was able to continue keeping for the rest of the over.
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However, once Bumrah had sent down the final ball, Pant left the field and spare wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel came out to take over the gloves. A substitute fielder is allowed to keep wicket under the ICC Test Playing Conditions, which state: "A substitute shall not bowl or act as captain but may act as wicket-keeper only with the consent of the umpires."
Thus, Jurel keeping in place of Pant is fully within the ICC rules. But, Jurel will not be able to bat for Pant if he his injury prevents him from doing so, with the playing conditions going on to state: "Only a nominated player may bat and... may do so even though a substitute fielder has previously acted for him."
ICC to trial full injury replacements
It was announced last month that the ICC will trial allowing full injury replacements in domestic first-class cricket. A statement from the board read that during the trial – "A player who suffers a serious injury on the field of play at any time after the match has started (including any pre-match warm-up period) may be replaced for the remainder of the match by a fully participating like-for-like player."
However, the trial is not set to begin until October this year, and will last for a six month period initially. Therefore, the change to the playing conditions will come too late for India to fully replace Pant at Lord's, and if he is unable to bat they will be a player down. They will, however, be able to use Jurel behind the stumps for both innings if necessary.
Currently, players are only allowed to be fully replaced in an XI if injured during matches if they suffer a concussion. In that scenario, like-for-like replacements are permitted from a list of designated replacements which each team submits before the match – another change to playing conditions.
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