Liton Das & Nayeem Hasan get Hit on the Helmet; Two Concussion Substitutes Called for

Two Bangladeshi players- Liton Das and Nayeem Hasan – were hit on the helmet on the first day of the historic test match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Moahamad Shami was the bowler on both occasions.

Liton Das was initially hit on the helmet when he was batting on 15. The physio completed the protocol to check him, and Das continued batting. But after facing a few more balls, he was once again checked by the physio and the players went for lunch. After the break, he did not return to bat, but instead it was Mehidy Hasan that came out as a concussion substitute for Liton Das.

Shami, in his fiery spell, kept bowling bouncers. Another one hit Nayeem Hasan on the helmet, when the protocol was once again followed. He continued to bat and eventually dismissed for 19. However, he did not come out to field and it was announced that Taijul Islam has been selected as like-for-like replacement for Nayeem.

Bangladesh will now be remembered as the first team to use two concussion substitutes in a test match.

Taijul Islam is the fourth player to be used as a concussion substitute against India in Tests after Mehidy Hasan, Jermaine Blackwood and Theunis de Bruyne, three of them coming in a Test match in India. The first concussion substitute was during the Ashes earlier this year, when Marnus Labuschagne replaced Steve Smith.

Taijul’s substitution was also the first occasion where a bowler has replaced another bowler.

Although Mehidy Hasan is primarily a bowler, he will not be able to bowl in the test match, as he came in as a replacement for a wicket-keeper batsman. On the other hand, Taijul came in as like-for-like replacement for the another bowler, and will be able to bowl in the test match.

An interesting scene to watch when Nayeem was hit on the helmet was that the Indian physio attended him, which the fans took as a lovely gesture towards the spirit of cricket.