India won the fourth T20I in Pune and took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-T20I series but the concussion substitute controversy hogged the limelight. India team management put forward Harshit Rana's name as concussion substitute for Shivam Dube which was approved by match referee Javagal Srinath. The call was criticised by Jos Buttler and many former cricketers from both sides including England's Kevin Pietersen who is in the commentary panel. Ahead of the fifth T20I, Pietersen wants Srinath to admit he made the "wrong call" so that everyone can move on from the controversy.
“Concussion sub is quite the topic everywhere here atm and my view is…it was NEVER a like for like replacement and the match referee should just hold his hand up and say he got that one wrong. End of event for good and we move on to another great clash this evening,” Pietersen wrote on X on the morning of the fifth T20I at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Earlier, during the fourth T20I, Pietersen criticised the call in the commentary box.
“He is not the like-to-like replacement for Shivam Dube. You ask anyone in the world, and they will say the same thing. Dube is not a genuine pacer, but Rana is. This would be discussed a lot after the match,” Pietersen said.
What Buttler said after the loss
After Dube's 53-run knock, Rana took three wickets for 33 runs. England captain Buttler made a sarcastic remark in the post-match press conference saying that he may get his playing 12 for the next game. He also mentioned that he wants to ask some questions from the match referee.
"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," he said 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."