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In a major development from the world of cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has introduced the ‘Serious Injury Replacement’ rule in domestic cricket for the upcoming 2025-26 season. It is expected to come into effect with the start of the prestigious red-ball tournament Duleep Trophy on August 28, which is going to kick off the domestic season of cricket in India.
As per the report published in Cricbuzz, the BCCI has allowed the usage of injury replacement in multi-day tournaments in domestic cricket by amending their playing conditions. The discussion around introducing the “Serious Injury Replacement” rule came into the picture during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between England and India, in which the likes of Rishabh Pant and Chris Woakes were injured, making them unable to take major part in Test matches.
BCCI also changed rules on retiring batter and deliberate run out in Indian domestic cricket
When the question around the supposed rule change was put up to Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir, he welcomed it, while England captain Ben Stokes found it ridiculous. The playing conditions as far as the “Serious Injury Replacement” reads, “If a player sustains a serious injury during the course of the relevant match, a Serious Injury Replacement may be permitted in the following circumstances.. The serious injury must have been sustained during play and within the playing area described in clause.”
In the aforementioned report, there was also a mention of a few other rule changes, including the retiring batter and deliberate short run. All in all, it will be very interesting to see whether introduction of the “Serious Injury Replacement” rule from the BCCI in Indian cricket will lead to the International Cricket Council (ICC) bringing in the rule of the same kind in the near future.
The influence of the BCCI is well-known in the ICC, which is why there is a high chance of the aforementioned change happening sooner rather than later.
