The X handle of Iceland Cricket, on Friday, January 31, came up with a tweet, making fun of Michael Vaughan for having attacked the Indian management for replacing all-rounder Shivam Dube with Harshit Rana, who was classed as a concussion substitute. Dube had an inning of 53, and he remained in the hands of the England pacer Jamie Overton in the last over of India’s innings in the fourth T20I of this five-match series at MCA Stadium in Pune.
Many former greats and experts criticized India for substituting an all-rounder with a specialist bowler. In fact, under the rules, a concussion sub can only be of like-for-like nature.
In a tweet, Vaughan said, “How can a full-on bowler replace a middle-order scorer who bowls part-time? #INDvsENG.” Iceland Cricket chippied back, “As if we ever had to check the score. We knew England would be losing.”
Rana became the match-winning debutant on the day, as Delhi-based pacer had finished with three-wket for his 33 runs in four overs in his very first T20I match for India. He opened his account by catching Liam Livingstone behind off wicketkeeper Sanju Samson on the second ball of the 12th over of the run chase.
How can an out & out bowler replace a batter who bowls part time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #INDvsENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 31, 2025
On his second wicket of the match, Rana dismissed Jacob Bethell, who managed to score six runs off nine balls before being caught by Suryakumar Yadav on the fifth ball of the 16th over.
On the final delivery of his fourth over, Harshit clean bowled Overton to virtually seal win-tumbling in England’s pursuit of a narrow victory over India in pursuit of leveling the T20I series.
