England captain Jos Buttler seemingly took a dig at the Indian team's concussion sub act in the fourth T20I in Pune. During the toss for the fifth and final T20I of the series in Mumbai, Buttler made a cryptic statement.
Buttler took a dig when he used the term 'impact sub' instead of benched players for the final T20I of the series. "We played some good cricket in patches. We should have executed it better though. Need to grab the special moments in the game. There's a good vibe in the team, it's a good venue and it's a great crowd. It's a good wicket, Mark Wood comes back in. Both teams are high-octane. We have four impact subs in our team," Buttler said at the toss.
Meanwhile, the Indian team had brought Harshit as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube, which sparked the debate of like-for-like replacement which is generally the rule in concussion replacements.?
England captain Jos Buttler revealed after the match that they were not asked of the substitute and disagreed with the move. "It is not a like-for-like replacement. We don't agree with that," Buttler said after the match in Pune.?
"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.
"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," he added.
Meanwhile, India bowling coach Morne Morkel had said that the move to bring Harshit for Dube is above his powers. "Shivam came off the field in 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 is up to the match referee to make the decision. When the decision was made, Harshit was having dinner. So we had to get him ready as quickly as possible to go on the field and bowl," Morkel said after the match.
"It goes to the powers above me -the?match referee makes the decision. We can only take the name forward and from there, it is out of our hands," he added.