‘Seriously’ injured player, ineligible to play for one week, needs WCC approval | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: As the Ranji Trophy season gets underway, the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) has updated its playing conditions to plug gaps in the serious injury replacement provision. According to the new document shared with the state associations, a player will not be able to enter the field for a week from the day he is substituted for a serious injury and will have to take permission from the BCCI Center of Excellence (COE). The board introduced the ‘serious injury replacement’ provision into the playing conditions as part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) pilot before incorporating it into the playing conditions of international cricket. “If a player is substituted for serious injury during the match, the player concerned must sit out for a minimum period of seven days from the time the substitution for serious injury was authorized. After completion of the minimum days off, the affected player will have to report to BCCI – COE for further assessment of his fitness. The BCCI COE specialist panel will assess his fitness and based on the specialist’s report, the player will be allowed to participate in BCCI matches in future,” the BCCI notification to state associations said. In accordance with the updated playing conditions, if a player is injured on the first day of the match scheduled for October 15-18 and is taken to hospital in the evening for an examination before an injury replacement is requested and authorized on the second day (October 16), October 17 will be the first day of the minimum days off. There have been heated debates around the possibility of replacing serious injuries. The debate gained momentum when Rishabh Pant went out to bat in the Manchester Test last July with a broken foot, followed by Chris Woakes’ failure to bowl in the second innings of the series final Test at Oval. Although a section of former cricketers stressed the need for such substitutions, few of them worried about teams abusing this provision. TOI understands that the ICC will take stock of how it is faring in the domestic tournaments at the next general managers’ meeting in November. Demerit points/sanctions to be carried over regardless of format The BCCI also clarified that a player’s demerit points and penalties will be applicable in the next match his team is scheduled to play, irrespective of the format. For example, if a player receives a suspension or demerit points in the team’s last Ranji Trophy match, he will have to withdraw from the next match played by his team, even if it is in the T20 or one-day format.