‘Play tennis or golf if you can't handle short balls': Gavaskar calls concussion sub rule a ‘like-for-like substitute for incompetence'
Gavaskar's remarks came after India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant suffered a fractured toe while batting on Wednesday in Manchester before making a dramatic return to bat and score a half-century in India's first-innings on Day 2. Speaking on Sony Sports on a discussion of like-for-like substitutes to be implemented in cricket, Gavaskar first questioned the existing concussion substitute rule, that limited the nature of injuries for which a player can be substituted to bat and ball in a match rather than meeting only fielding requirements as wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel will do for Pant in the remainder of the match.
'I've always felt that you are giving a like-for-like substitute for incompetence. If you are not good enough to play short-pitched bowling, don't play Test cricket; go and play tennis or golf. You are giving a like-for-like substitute for somebody who can't play the short ball and gets hit,' said Gavaskar on the rule that came into effect in mid-2019.
However, Gavaskar said the International Cricket Council (ICC) must review the rules to allow certain replacements for injuries like the one Pant sustained freakishly while attempting a reverse swipe off fast bowler Chris Woakes on Day 1 of the fourth Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
'Here, it is a clear injury (Pant); there has to be a substitute. I want some sort of committee appointed to take a call on this. There is a cricket committee, ICC has a cricket committee, but at the moment that's headed by Sourav Ganguly, the ICC chairman is Jay Shah, and the ICC CEO is Sanjog Gupta,' said Gavaskar.
With several Indians heading multiple positions in the international board, Gavaskar said a fresh committee could look into the substitution roles to maintain objectivity.
'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 a totally different committee to look at these injuries, maybe with doctors, etc., and let that committee come to a call,' he added.
This is not the first time the legendary Mumbai cricketer had slammed the usage of the concussion sub. Earlier this year, Gavaskar lambasted the Indian team management when they used the loopholes in the concussion sub-rule to swap all-rounder Shivam Dube for fast bowler Harshit Rana after the former's batting innings.
'Even by the most generous stretching of the like-for-like term, there was nothing such between Dube and Rana. With tongue firmly in cheek, one can say that they are the same height and have the same standard in fielding. Otherwise, there's nothing like-for-like as far as they are concerned. England has every reason to feel done in. This Indian team is a superb team and doesn't need its wins to get tarnished by such acts,' he wrote in a column for The Telegraph.
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