England skipper Jos Buttler didn't agree with India's ploy to use Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute for half-centurion Shivam Dube, a masterstroke that saw the hosts seal the five-match T20I series with 15-run win in the fourth game here on Friday.
Dube who scored 53 off 34 balls was hit on the helmet by a Jamie Overton delivery in the 19.5th over leading to the concussion protocol being followed.
Although he faced the last ball, but when India came out in defence of 182, Rana walked out to field instead of him.
"We don't agree with concussion substitute. It's not a like-for-like replacement," Jos Buttler said at the post-match media conference.
Rana eventually played a pivotal role taking 3 wickets including that of Liam Livingstone and Buttler raising the question if the concussion rule was followed in letter and spirit.
Buttler was sarcastic in calling out the substitution.
"I think either Shivam Dube put on 25 mph with the ball or Harshit Rana has improved a lot with his batting," the skipper said.
The concussion protocol allows a like-for-like replacement and Rana was a tearaway quick replacing medium pacer Dube, who CSK use as an Impact Player
in the IPL.
For the record, Rana does have a Ranji Trophy hundred.
Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel said that all they did was place a name to match referee Javagal Srinath.
"We only gave a name to match referee. After that it's out of our hands. Harshit was having dinner. He had to quickly get up and go out. I thought he did an excellent job," Morkel said.
The like-for-like replacement in case of concussion substitute is a grey area that India have always used well.
Last time India used the ploy was against Australia in a T20I game during the 2020-21 series.
Ravindra Jadeja was replaced by Yuzvendra Chahal as concussion substitute when the former was merely hit on head and issue was more to do with his hamstring.
Friday's move was getting best of both worlds -- Dube's batting and Rana's extreme pace.
Follow us
