New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) Former England cricketer David Lloyd revealed that the common consensus of the ‘legends lounge’ at Old Trafford was that India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was ‘milking his injury’ when he walked out to bat on Day 2 of the fourth Test.

Pant was batting at 37 on Day 1 when he was injured while attempting to reverse sweep a Chris Woakes yorker, which ended up hitting him on the toe and resulted in a reported fracture on his right foot. Despite the injury, he returned to bat after Shardul Thakur’s dismissal and received thunderous applause in Manchester, but Lloyd believes Pant should have been timed out.

“I’ve never had a metatarsal, which I think is somewhere in the foot, seeing Rishabh Pant. I have had a smashed hand against Andy Roberts and a broken cheekbone. I couldn’t bat on after either, although I think I did continue when I had a broken finger. Pant looked in pain; it was pretty heroic of him to come out, though.

“I was in that legends lounge today, and the consensus was, ‘He is milking that injury. It can’t be that bad. He’s milked it, coming down those steps, and one or two said, ‘He should be timed out,'” said former English cricketer David Lloyd for talkSPORT Cricket.

Pant’s injury once again sparked the debate of whether substitutes should be allowed for injuries in Test cricket. The England great was in favour of the idea in case of an external injury like Pant.

“I probably am against runners, but I am pro substitutes for an external injury. It opens up a can of worms, it really does. But if it is an external injury, a break, and medically he isn’t going to be fit for six weeks, you could have a like-for-like substitute. So that’s something else that you’ve got to consider. Not like replacing a batter with a spinner, though,” he added.

–IANS

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