England cricket’s men captain Jos Buttler was upset with India on account of the introduction of Harshit Rana as concussion substitute for all-rounder Shivam Dube in the fourth T20I, held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday, January 31. Dube was struck on the helmet late in the innings by Jamie Overton, after which Harshit took over the second half of the match. Making his T20I debut for India on Friday, Rana took 3-33 in four overs and assisted the hosts in winning by 15 runs.
Buttler was not the only one furious at the supposedly unfair substitution, given that various fans, former greats, and analysts of the game joined him in disagreement with India’s decision to put a specialist bowler in place of a batting allrounder that can bowl medium pace as well. During the post-match press conference held in Pune, Jos Buttler stated Rana is not a like-for-like swap for Dube and that the English team disagrees with the Indian team’s assessment.
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“But we do not see it that way. Either Shivam Dube has gained an extra 25 miles in his bowling, or Harshit has really improved his batting. These are things that happen in a match; we deserved to win that game, in our opinion, but we disagreed with the decision,” said Buttler.
Jos Buttler has had his say on the like-for-like concussion replacement controversy 👀
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 31, 2025
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Concussion substitutes in ICC Men’s T20I playing guidelines find mention in Rule 1.2.7.
The rule states, “A Concussion Replacement Request will normally be approved by the ICC Match Referee if the replacement nominated for the concussed player is adjudged like-for-like and does not excess advantage his/team for the balance of the match.”
The next provisions state, “The provisions 1.2.7.4 and 1.2.7.5 stated that in deciding whether the nominated Concussion Replacement is like-for-like with the player concussed; the ICC Match Referee will consider what the concussed player would be likely to have done in the match until the end and what would have been the role normally performed by the nominated Concussion Replacement.”
In the view of the ICC Match Referee, if the presence of the nominated Concussion Replacement in his normal capacity would excessively advantage the team, then the ICC Match Referee may impose whatever restrictions he/she considers fit, regarding the identity and incorporation of the Concussion Replacement consistent with the overriding objective of allowing a like-for-like replacement for the concussed player.”
