Concussion replacements are here to stay!

Exactly five years to this date, Phil Hughes was taken too soon, the most tragic moment cricketing world has had to digest in recent times. When Phil Hughes got hit on that dreadful day at the Adelaide Oval by a searing bouncer and passed away just hours later, cricketing fraternity woke up and again started thinking about the safety of the players. When I thought of the kind of summer Mitchell Johnson had the previous year, I was completely thrown off and pleased for English batsmen thinking how didn't any of them get hit on the head and sent to the hospital. It was obviously a good thing that nobody got hit in the summer of 2013-14 but I was surprised about it a year later because I hadn't seen someone bowl that quick in my life. After the demise of Phil Hughes, India were scheduled to take on Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Aussies put on a score well in excess of 500 in the first innings and India were two down for not too many. Virat Kohli walked in with the burden of those 134 runs in England in all of five test matches on him. Mitchell Johnson steamed in with 20000 Aussies behind him and he bowled a ripper of a bouncer which hit Kohli straight on the badge of the helmet. Everyone rushed to him to check whether he was ok or not. Thankfully the blow didn't have any impact as he carried on to score a magistic hundred. Never in my life had I seen the Aussies react in such a way and show such a high degree of care for an opposition player. It is very very sad that it had to be a passing away of someone for us to realise that there was need of more safety for the batsmen in our beautiful game. Just a couple of months before this horrible incident, Stuart Broad had his nose displaced by a Varun Aaron bouncer which went straight through the helmet grill and bled Stuart Broad to ground. He has never been the same batsman since then. Masuri has been the most famous manufacturer of cricket helmets for a long time. They had recently introduced the stem guard to offer protection to the back of the head but it wasn't used by many players because it added a bit of weight to it. But after the Phil Hughes incident, there were only two ways to provide more safety to the batters. One was obviously the enhancement in technology and the other one was to change the laws. Laws were already softened after the 70s and 80s, decades completely dominated by fast bowlers. Therefore the only option was to enhance the technology and equipments. Many changes have been made to cricket helmets since then but the most revolutionary change came just about six months ago. I don't know whose idea it was but it must be a thought came out of a genius mind to have concussion substitutes during the match. The rule was made applicable immediately after the world cup. No other sport has a special substitute for concussion injuries, may be because head injuries don't occur as often as they do in cricket but I think people playing and watching other sports will become more aware once they realise how important it is. 

     In the days of Lillee and Thomson or the great West Indian quartet, bowlers didn't really show any sympathy when batsmen were hit on the head because the game was played hard. Ian Botham once said about the West Indians -"After a long time we realised that they were not here to kill us" He didn't mean every word but those words definitely go a long way in telling at least half the story about the hostile fast bowling in those days. After the Phil Hughes incident, we often see 4-5 guys rushing towards the batsman if he has been hit on the head and that is a very emotional change in our game. Earlier there was a thought going around that showing sympathy to the opposition might suck the intensity out of the team or individuals but with the competitiveness and the media hype these days, it is very unlikely to happen. Concussion replacements are great as they allow the substitute to take complete part in the remaining part of the match with the bat and in the field. We saw how much Australia benefitted from it when Steven Smith was pinned by Jofra Archer and replaced by Marnus Labuchagne at Lord's. Marnus played a major role in Australia's successful persuit of drawing the test. He was so good that he kept his place for the remainder of the series even after Steven Smith was back in the side. We saw as many as four concussion injuries in the Indian home summer. Concussion replacement was the need of the hour but I only have one problem with it. I feel the substitute should not be allowed to bat in the same innings but in the next one. I say this keeping in mind the worst possible and the most unfair scenario for the fielding team. Let's say batsman 'A' gets hit on the head after scoring a double century and he is replaced by another player as a concussion substitute. ICC says that the concussion replacement should be like to like. (i.e. Specialist batsman can be replaced only by another specialist batsman.) Now if the substitute batsman scores another 200 runs, then that won't be the favourite situation for the bowling team. Now some might say that the original batsman can go on and score another 200 runs as well but what are the chances of him scoring 400 runs in an innings. Yes it can happen but it has happened only once in over 150 years of test cricket. Therefore the only loophole I can see in this situation is the replacement coming out to bat in the same innings as the batsman has been injured in because it's almost like a 12-man batting line-up.

    Until last year, players used to decide whether they want to continue or not after a certain injury. That should not be the case as far as concussions go. Concussions can be more serious that they might appear at first therefore the decision for the player to continue or not should be strictly taken by the team physio and the team doctor. Concussion substitutions are great for the game and here to stay, without a shadow of doubt.