England captain Jos Buttler was furious at the end of the fourth T20I. In the post-match presentation, he wasn't asked about concussion replacement Harshit Rana for Shivam Dube but he did not mince words when the obvious question came up during the press conference. Buttler did not feel it was a like-for-like replacement. He expressed that he was surprised to see Rana on the field when he walked out to bat in the run chase. The wicketkeeper-batter expressed that he has a few questions to ask from the match referee Javagal Srinath.
"Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25 mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. 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," Buttler told the reporters after the 15-run loss in Pune.
"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."
The ICC rule clearly states that the concussion replacement should not give an advantage to the other team.
"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."
After Dube's half-century helped India post 181/9 on the board, Rana claimed three wickets for 33 runs from four overs on his T20I debut. However, Buttler does not feel that it was Rana was the sole reason of England's loss.
"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's rant continued.
However, the 34-year-old did not lose his humour as he made a sarcastic remark.
"Maybe at the toss next game I'll say we're going to play 12 as well," he said indirectly comparing it to the impact player rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
