‘It’s not a like-for-like replacement, we don’t agree with that’- Jos Buttler on Harshit Rana playing as concussion substitute

During Friday, January 31’s fourth T20I between India and England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, Jos Buttler voiced his disapproval of Harshit Rana’s inclusion as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube.

India was saved from a dire situation by Dube’s 87-run partnership with Hardik Pandya for the sixth wicket, and his outstanding half-century (53) in the first innings. At the end of the Indian innings, however, a delivery from Jamie Overton struck the southpaw on his helmet.

A concussion prevented Dube from fielding in the second inning. The Mumbai all-rounder was first replaced on the field by Ramandeep Singh.

In the end, though, Harshit Rana was selected as the concussion replacement.

With this decision, a batting all-rounder was replaced by a specialist seamer, giving India an advantage. The captain of England expressed his frustration after the game, indicating that this did not sit well with him.

Shivam Dube has either increased his ball speed by roughly 25 mph or Harshit’s batting has really improved. There is no like-for-like replacement, and we disagree. It’s just part of the game; we disagree with the verdict, but I still believe we should have won the match,” Buttler raged.

According to the seasoned cricket player, he was not given any information prior to the decision being made. The umpires told him that Javagal Srinath, the match referee, had made the call when he asked. “I’ll ask him about his decision,” Buttler said.

“A consultation is not held. I was wondering, “Who’s Harshit on for?” as I came out to bat, and I was informed that he was the substitute for the concussion, which I obviously disagreed with because it’s not a like-for-like replacement. According to the umpires, we had no influence over the decision and the match referee decided it. To gain more insight, we’ll interrogate match referee Javagal Srinath,” Buttler said.

Per ICC regulations, the match referee must authorize the replacement for a concussion. It is generally believed that the replacement will not significantly improve the team’s performance and must be a like-for-like replacement.

“If the ICC Match Referee believes that the inclusion of the nominated Concussion Replacement, when performing their normal role, would excessively advantage their team, the ICC Match Referee may impose such conditions upon the identity and involvement of the Concussion Replacement as he/she sees fit, in line with the overriding objective of facilitating a like-for-like replacement for the concussed player,” according to the regulation.

Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, and Jamie Overton were all taken out by Rana, who was instrumental in India’s 15-run victory and an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Although he didn’t win the match by himself, Buttler claimed that Rana made a substantial contribution to India’s victory.

“No, we were neither consulted about the game nor questioned about it. It’s not the only reason we lost the game; we still had opportunities to win the contest. Buttler grumbled, “Yeah, I would like to just get some clarification on that.”