England captain Jos Buttler emphasised that Harshit Rana’s inclusion as a concussion substitute was not solely responsible for England’s failure to cross the line and concede the series. However, Buttler made it clear that England disagreed with Rana being adjudged a like-for-like replacement for Shivam Dube.
“It’s not a like-for-like replacement, we don’t agree with that. Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball, or Harshit has really improved his batting. It’s part of the game. I still think we should have gone on to win the match, but we disagree with the decision,” Buttler said after India wrapped up the series with a 15-run win at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday.
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Buttler explained that the England team was neither required to consult nor was it consulted before the decision was made early on during the chase. “There’s no consultation. As I came out to bat, I was thinking, who is Harshit on for? And they said he is the concussion replacement, which I obviously disagreed with, it’s not a like-for-like replacement,” Buttler said.
“They said that the match referee had made the decision, so we had no say in it or any part of it. We will ask [match referee] Javagal (Srinath) some questions, just to get some clarity around it.”
Asked specifically whether it was more of a case of an Impact Player – an IPL rule – than a concussion substitute, Buttler offered a tongue-in-cheek response. “Maybe at the toss next game, I will say we are going to play 12 as well,” he said.
India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel, however, stated that the concussion substitute was approved by Srinath, suggesting there should be no debate around it.
“As far as I am aware, Shivam took the knock to the head, came off the field, got the innings break with mild headache symptoms. We took a name forward to the match referee in terms of a suitable substitution, and from there it’s up to the match referee to make that decision. He made the decision,” Morkel said.
“Harshit was having dinner, had to get himself ready as quickly as possible to get onto the field and bowl. And I thought he did an excellent job.”
