Chris Woakes has agreed with Ben Stokes’ position on injured replacements in Test cricket. He argued that teams might potentially exploit the regulation of having injury substitutions because there would be “too many grey areas or loopholes”. Woakes made the comments after batting with a dislocated shoulder in the fifth Test of the recent series against India.
“I’m with Stokesy, to be honest. After 18 years of playing, I know the game for what it is: you lose a player and must find a way to move forward as a team. It increases your resilience and strengthens the team. I see why people think it’s necessary for freak injuries like mine,
But there would be too many grey areas or loopholes,” Chris Woakes was reported as saying in The Guardian.
The all-rounder also commented on how unpredictable the past few days have been for him. “I mean, it’s not the way you want to be front-page news, you’d rather it was for five wickets or a century. There have been a lot of ups and downs since but yeah, the love from the public has helped. It is so weird to go from the start of a Test week, thinking ‘one last push’, to ending up on a physio’s table wondering what the future holds.”
For the unversed, Stokes’ remarks regarding injury replacement had come in response to Gautam Gambhir advocating for such a new regulation after Rishabh Pant came out to bat despite injuring his right foot in India’s first innings of the fourth Test.
In the subsequent match, an injury setback to Woakes meant that England had to manage with only three pacers in their second innings. They eventually lost six runs, with India drawing level at 2-2.
India
