Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels absence of Indian team physio Nitin Patel the moment Ravindra Jadeja got struck by the Mitchell Starc bouncer on his helmet was a breach of concussion protocols in the first T20I against Australia on Friday (December 4).
Jadeja later suffered a hamstring injury too. The Indian team claimed a concussion substitute for the all-rounder after he felt "dizzy", as revealed by teammate Sanju Samson, and in a "like-for-like" replacement for the bowling half got Yuzvendra Chahal.
Read Also: Henriques questions whether Chahal was really "a like-for-like replacement" of Jadeja?
"There is one important breach of protocol that has happened," Manjrekar said on 'Sony Six'.
"I am sure the match referee will raise with India but one of the main things with that protocol, the moment you get hit on the head, they (physio) have to spend time with the batsman out there, asking how he feels."
"The physio (Nitin Patel in this case) has to come in and there are a certain set of questions that need to be asked. With Jadeja, it just happened, there was hardly any delay and he continued playing," he added.
While Jadeja continuing to bat despite the blow didn't give India any massive advantage as they added only 9 more runs after the incident, Manjrekar feels the fact that the blow didn't require any immediate medical attention, does raise doubts over its credibility.
"He added just 9 runs, it wasn't a massive advantage. But after that (hit), there should have been at least 2-3 minutes where India support staff should have come out. And then it would have looked a little more credible."
Manjrekar, though, agreed that once claimed, match referee David Boon had no option but to allow a replacement as per the currently defined laws.
"I would say one thing though, David Boon had no choice but to give India the concussion substitute because he would not have the courage to say he wouldn't allow it because, at the time of impact, no attention was given," he said. "He had to give the concussion substitute once the request was made."
The instance raises a question mark whether there exist some loopholes in the concussion protocols, which the teams could take advantage of.
"After this, there is going to be a lot of thought given to concussion substitute and the whole concept, because we, as players, there are rules made with good intentions, but we're masters at just trying to find a loophole in the rule to our own advantage," Manjrekar said.
"Whether India took advantage, I don't know but there's something that ICC will start looking at."
"You know what ICC or referee will have a problem with this is there was no visit by the physio, nobody came, no time was taken to see him, he carried on playing."
"ICC will also make sure no team uses it unfairly, I am not suggesting India used it unfairly and got an unfair advantage. They want the like-for-like replacement. In this case, Jadeja, with the hamstring, is not the same bowler, as Chahal was," he signed off.
(Inputs from PTI)
