Rishabh Pant suffered a series-ending injury during Day 1 of the India vs England Test in Manchester after he fractured his toe on a Chris Woakes delivery.
However, like football or hockey, cricket does not facilitate substitutions, unless it is a concussion through a head or neck injury.
With over four days of action still left after Pant's injury, the fans and experts started debating over the need for a rule where a team could substitute a player sustaining an injury.
Just like the on-field heated moments, the India and England camps once again looked in disagreement regarding the discourse, as India coach Gautam Gambhir and England captain Ben Stokes took opposing positions on the issue.
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Here's what they had to say.
Ben Stokes and Gautam Gambhir clash over the injury replacement debate:
As soon as Pant was taken off the field on a golf cart, it was very evident that the batter would not take any further part in the match.
Despite sustaining a fracture that required six weeks of rest, the southpaw had to come in and bat on the next day to help the team's cause.
Citing the potential risk of aggravating the injury or having to play such a closely fought Test match with 10 men, Gambhir stood for having injury subs in cricket.
However, he also believed this rule should only be applicable if the injury is visible and spoke about the importance of umpires and match referees in deciding whether a sub should be allowed.
"Absolutely, I'm all for it. If the umpires and the match referee see and feel that is a major injury, I think it's very important to have this rule where you can get a substitute - that is, if it's very visible," Gambhir emphasized.
READ MORE: Gambhir hits back at Stokes' reaction to India refusing an early draw in Manchester
"There's nothing wrong with doing that, especially in a series like this, where it's been such a closely fought series in the previous three Test matches. Imagine if we had to play with ten men against 11. How unfortunate would this be for us?" he concluded.
Stokes, on the other hand, looked strongly against the notion and thought teams can take an undue advantage of the rule.
According to him, the MRIs would show niggles for most players and it would not be fair to replace a player on that basis.
"I think it's absolutely ridiculous that there's a conversation around an injury replacement. I think that there would just be too many loopholes for teams to be able to go through. You pick your XI for a game; injuries are part of the game," said Stokes.
"I completely understand the concussion replacement - player welfare, [and] player safety. But I think the conversation should just honestly stop around injury replacements because if you stick me in an MRI scanner, I could get someone else in straightaway," he added.
"If you stick anyone else with an MRI scanner, a bowler is going to show, 'oh yeah, you've got a bit of inflammation around your knee; oh sweet, we can get another fresh bowler in'. I just think that conversation should be shut down and stopped," he further made their stance clear.
In a nutshell, Stokes was against it due to the possibility of a team misusing it for fatigue injuries that are very common in such intensely fought matches.
READ MORE: Who is replacing Pant for the Oval Test?
Moving into the fifth Test, India has announced that the wicketkeeper batter has been ruled out of the final Test with India standing a chance to finish with 2-2.
Narayan Jagadeesan has been named the replacement for the Oval Test, with Dhurv Jurel most likely to feature in the playing XI.