India all-rounder Shivam Dube played the fourth T20I against England in Pune on Friday. However, Harshit Rana became his concussion sub in the game, leaving a mark with the ball. And, Jos Buttler was not too happy with the change as India won the game by 15 runs and they took a 3-1 lead in the five-match series as well.

However, Dube, batting at No 6, smashed a stunning half-century (53) before being run out as well. Notably, a ball earlier (19.5), he was hit on the helmet and India brought in Rana as a concussion substitute when they fielded. Buttler said he will take up the matter as there was no consultation.

“Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25 mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting.” Buttler fumed. “It’s not a like-for-like replacement, we don’t agree with that. It’s part of the game, I still think we should have gone on to win the match but we disagree with the decision. There’s no consultation. It was something as I came out to bat, I was thinking ‘who’s Harshit on for’ and I was told he was the concussion replacement, which I obviously disagreed with, it’s not a like-for-like replacement. They [umpires] said the match referee had made the decision so we had no say in it or any part of it. We’ll ask Javagal Srinath [match referee] some questions just to get some clarity around it.”

ALSO READ: “Aap Lucknow ke naye nawab hain” – Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant’s appointment as LSG captain

Meanwhile, according to ICC rules, the match referee is needed to approve the concussion sub as well. Normally, it has to be a like-for-like replacement and the substitute is not expected to help the team this way.

“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,” reads the rule.

Whether it was a like-for-like or not was a matter of discussion but England camp thinks Rana gave a huge advantage to India as well.

“No, we had no consultation in the game or were asked about it. It’s not the whole reason why we didn’t win the match and we had our chances to win the game, which we could have still taken. But yeah, I’d like to just get a bit of clarity around that,” Buttler said. “Maybe at the toss next game I’ll say we’re going to play 12 as well.”

ALSO READ: “I think Virat Kohli is the only option” – AB de Villiers backs Kohli as RCB captain for IPL 2025

The Indian team management also opined on this.

“Shivam obviously took the knock against 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. So the decision was made, you know, Harshit was having dinner, had to get himself ready as quickly as possible to get onto the field and bowl,” India bowling coach Morne Morkel said, explaining the Indian position. “The Match referee made the decision. We can only take the name forward and from there it’s out of our hands. We got the green light to go with that and, you know, we gave it an opportunity.You know, for me, I’ve only been with the T20 group now for a short period of time.”