India may have won the fourth T20I against England and sealed the five-match series, but the debate over fair play continues, especially after the visiting skipper Jos Buttler expressed his displeasure with India’s decision to use pacer Harshit Rana as the concussion substitute.
India beat England by 15 runs in Pune, to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, with Rana playing a pivotal role, taking 3/33. Put into bat, India were struggling at 12 for 3 but an 87-run stand between Hardik Pandya (53 off 30 balls) and Shivam Dube (53 off 34 balls) took the hosts to 181/9. For England, Saqib Mahmood (3/35) was the most successful bowler.
All-rounder Dube was hit on the helmet off the penultimate delivery of the innings by Jamie Overton, leading to the concussion protocol being followed. Though he faced the last ball, India chose to replace him with Rana when the hosts came out to field.
Rana, along with spinners Ravi Bishnoi (3/28) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/28) helped India bowl out England for 166.
Jos Buttler has had his say on the like-for-like concussion replacement controversy 👀
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"We don't agree with concussion substitute. It's not a like-for-like replacement,” Buttler minced no words at the post-match interaction. Rana is a fast bowler, while Dube bowls medium pace. “I think either Shivam Dube put on 25mph with the ball or Harshit Rana has improved a lot with his batting,” he added sarcastically.
The England skipper had a point, as the concussion protocol allows a like-for-like replacement. Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel, however, defended the decision saying that all they did was place a name before 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.
After the match, Rana said, "When Dube came back, two overs into the chase, I was told (about being the concussion substitute). I have been waiting for this moment to prove myself."
The fifth and final T20I will be played in Mumbai on Sunday, and will be followed by three ODIs.
