[WATCH] ‘Ridiculous…’- England captain reflects in ENG vs IND 4th Test in Manchester on introduction of injury substitution

It was Rishabh Pant, who tried to play a funky reverse-sweep against Chris Woakes on the opening day of the fourth Test between England and India at Old Trafford in Manchester. The ball, which the batter missed, hit him on the bridge of his foot. He fractured his toe and got ruled out for the fifth and final game of the series. 

Since then, discussions have been proposed on whether the umpires and referees should allow the teams to bring a substitution, given that the important part is to maintain the balance of the side, whereas they would not want a side to play with 10 players. But England’s captain, Ben Stokes, found it a silly conversation.

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‘I think it’s ridiculous that this is a conversation around the injury replacement. I think that there would be just too many loopholes for teams to be able to go through. You pick your XI for a game. Injuries are part of the game. I completely understand the concussion replacement, because that’s players’ welfare, players’ safety. But I think the conversation should honestly just stop around injury replacements.’ Stokes expressed at the end of the game in the press conference.

Watch: Ben Stokes reflects on the idea of the introduction of injury substitution

Pant came to bat on the second day with sore feet as he struggled to walk down the stairs. He smashed a couple of sixes to celebrate a fifty in the inning to carry them over the 350-run mark, which proved to be quite vital to the context.  

Ben Stokes says the idea of introducing injury substitutions is ‘absolutely ridiculous’ 👀 pic.twitter.com/0igz9aibeO

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 27, 2025

‘If you stick me in an MRI scanner, I could get someone in straight away. You stick anyone in a MRI scanner and a bowler is going to show, ‘Oh, yeah, you have got a bit of inflammation around your knee. Oh sweet!! You can get fresh bowlers in. I think that this conversation should just be shut down and stopped.’ Stokes revealed.

Both teams will have some selection headaches for the fifth Kennington Oval Test in South London. Pant, on the other hand, is ruled out of the fifth game next week at the Kennington Oval in South London.