IND vs ENG: 'We don't agree with that,' Buttler fumes at Harshit coming on as concussion substitute for Dube

England captain Jos Buttler slammed India’s decision to replace the injured Shivam Dube with Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute during the fourth T20I in Pune on Friday. Dube played a quickfire knock of 53 off 34 balls after India were asked to bat first, but took a blow to his helmet in the penultimate ball of India’s innings.

‘We don’t agree with that’: Buttler on Rana being subbed in for Dube 

The all-rounder was tested for concussion and replaced by pacer Harshit Rana, who finished with figures of 3/33. “It is not a like-for-like replacement. We don’t agree with that,” Buttler said after the match. “Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. It’s part of the game and we really should have gone on to win the match, but we disagree with the decision,” he added.

Buttler was also angry with the fact that the visitors were not informed about the change. “There was no consultation [with us]. That’s something I was thinking as I came out to bat - who is Harshit on for? They said he is a concussion replacement, which I obviously disagreed with. It is not a like-for-like replacement. They said that the match referee had made the decision. We had no say in it or any part of it. But we’ll ask Javagal [Srinath] some questions just to get some clarity around it.

“Like I said, it was not the whole reason why we did not win the match. We had our chances to win the game which we could have still taken. But I’d like to have a bit more clarity on that,” he added.

Dube came in when India were 57/4 at one stage and forged an 87-run stand with Hardik Pandya to take the hosts to 181/9. England were 67/3 in their chase once but Harshit Rana dismantled the visitors’ middle-order to restrict them to 166 in 19.4 overs.

India sealed the series with the win in Pune and will go to Mumbai for Sunday’s fifth and final T20I on the back of a 3-1 lead.