Wanted during COVID-19: Changes in cricket regulations

I write this a few minutes after Navdeep Saini has hobbled off at the Gabba minutes away from my home in Brisbanes leafy suburbs on Friday It may be too early to predict how serious this injury is but if it rules him out of the match it reduces this important tiebreaker Test to official joke statusThis is not a true India team It is barely an India lsquoArsquo team For a variety of reasons they are missing or have missed an entire teams worth of personnel When you add COVID19 quarantine restrictions to a ridiculously high injury toll almost all of them softtissue injuries the question needs to be asked is this really a fairdinkum contest anymoreThe fact that India are still alive in this series is nothing short of a miracle It is entirely possible nay probable that they will get steamrolled inside four days in Brisbane but even that is not a given for these brave lads who refuse to lay down and die This squad must surely be remembered as the bravest touring team that India has ever sent abroad even if they return having surrendered the Border Gavaskar TrophyThe ICC and BCCI and other Boards may now need to reassess what international cricket looks like in a pandemicravaged world Until life returns to some semblance of normality and quarantine restrictions are eased both inhouse on tour and for international borders if the integrity of the contest is to be maintained it cannot continue in the current format For the touring team especially it is untenable Clearly there must be some correlation between bubble life and softtissue injuries It is impossible to draw any other conclusion The number of softtissue injuries since COVID is at epic levels It simply cannot be a coincidenceNo team is immune from it This must provide some measure of relief to the Indian teams medical staff because it proves that whatever they are doing to adequately prepare their cricketers and failing spectacularly is not unique to the Indian squad Sri Lanka experienced similar issues in South Africa recently Anyone who is following the Big Bash in Australia will know that it is a daily occurrence now waiting to hear which player is either not available for selection or needs to be subbed out at the halfway mark of the first innings The XFactor rule I am not exaggerating it happens in almost every game without failI have always been scornful about the value of pregame warmups and the overreliance on medical staff as an injury preventative measure Throughout my career I only ever missed a game when I rolled an ankle whilst fielding during a game and we didnt have any of these luxuries despite playing four to five times a week For those who argue that this army of staff play a role in preventing injuries as opposed to treating existing ailments they will need to mount a convincing case for why players are going down with softtissue injuries at a higher rate than ever before It lurches from the sublime to the ridiculous when you hear that a player has torn a muscle during the warmup Presumably warming up is meant to reduce injuries so if you tearsprain something in the act of preventing that very occurrence then it is a world gone truly madIf we are to believe the sports scientists who make a handsome living from producing cricketers who are less durable then bubble life and quarantining must be the only valid explanation In which case the ICC needs to now show some leadership and fasttrack some rule changes Until life is back to normal will it ever be we need to emulate the football codes soccer rugby etc and allow the interchange bench to come into effect Unlimited interchanges may be going a step too far but under independent medical supervision we need to be able to replace players who are unable to complete the gameIts not that revolutionary We now allow concussion substitutes We now allow specialists like wicketkeepers to be replaced COVID19 has caused unprecedented circumstances which now require innovative and unprecedented responses Otherwise we risk reducing international cricket to junk status We are fortunate that the Gabba Test is the last one of the series because if there was more cricket to be played it is likely that Ravi Shastri or Sunil Gavaskar may be called upon to man the trenches Jokes aside it is not inconceivable that India may have to recruit from within the Indian diaspora in Australia many of them decent club cricketers Broadcasters would simply not pay top dollar to showcase a game involving club cricketers in prime timeYes there will need to be some rules around who decides if someone is genuinely injured or milking it for strategic purposes Will the fast bowler fake an injury so the spinner can be subbed in to bowl in the fourth innings That is where there needs to be some level of trust and a commitment to integrity by all parties It can be done Despite Tim Paines foulmouthed tirade at the Australian umpires for which he was fined and later apologised he is becoming rather accustomed to apologising we allow nonneutral umpires and Match Referees We even allow fathers to sit in judgement of their own sons Broad v Broad 2020 So it is now time to move with the times and allow injured players to be replaced during the game The alternative is to do what I have done this afternoon switch off the tv and do something else other than watch Test cricket I could walk down to the Gabba and watch it for myself but no thanks my daughter is playing cricket tonight and thats likely to be a fairer contestMichael Jeh is a Brisbanebased former firstclass cricketer