During the current India-England Old Trafford Test, India batting great Sunil Gavaskar delivered a harsh critique of cricket's current concussion substitution rule, calling it little more than a replacement cushion for "incompetent" batters who are unable to handle short-pitched bowling.

Gavaskar's comments come after India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant fractured his toe while batting in Manchester on Wednesday, before making a spectacular return to bat and scoring a half-century in India's first innings on Day 2.

During a discussion about the implementation of like-for-like substitutes in cricket, Gavaskar questioned the existing concussion substitute rule, which limited the types of injuries for which a player could be substituted to bat and ball in a match rather than just fielding.

“I’ve always felt that you are giving a like-for-like substitute for incompetence. If you are not good enough to play short-pitched bowling, don’t play Test cricket; go and play tennis or golf. You are giving a like-for-like substitute for somebody who can’t play the short ball and gets hit,” said Gavaskar on Sony Sports.

Gavaskar stated the International Cricket Council (ICC) needed to revise the regulations in order to permit specific replacements for injuries such as the one Pant suffered on Day 1 of the fourth Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy while trying a reverse swipe off fast bowler Chris Woakes.

“Here, it is a clear injury (Pant); there has to be a substitute. I want some sort of committee appointed to take a call on this. There is a cricket committee; the ICC has a cricket committee, but at the moment that’s headed by Sourav Ganguly, the ICC chairman is Jay Shah, and the ICC CEO is Sanjog Gupta,” said Gavaskar.

With several Indians heading multiple positions in the international board, Gavaskar said a fresh committee could look into the substitution roles to maintain objectivity.

“So, we don’t want a situation for the media here in particular and in Australia to say, ‘Oh, because it’s an Indian situation, they have started to do that.’ So, let it be a totally different committee to look at these injuries, maybe with doctors, etc., and let that committee come to a call,” he added.

The renowned Mumbai cricket player has already criticized the use of the concussion substitute. Gavaskar chastised the Indian team management earlier this year for using the concussion sub-rule's loopholes to replace all-rounder Shivam Dube with fast bowler Harshit Rana following the former's batting innings.

“Even by the most generous stretching of the like-for-like term, there was no such thing between Dube and Rana. With tongue firmly in cheek, one can say that they are the same height and have the same standard in fielding. Otherwise, there’s nothing like-for-like as far as they are concerned. England has every reason to feel done in. This Indian team is a superb team and doesn’t need its wins to get tarnished by such acts,” he wrote in a column for The Telegraph.

Rishabh Pant resumed his innings on 37 and scored a total of 54 runs, helping India post 358 runs in the first innings. England, at stumps on day two, made 225/2 and only trailed by 133 runs.