"There was no consultation": Jos Buttler calls out Javagal Srinath over controversial Harshit Rana substitution

England National Cricket Team skipper Jos Buttler was not a happy camper after India National Cricket Team pacer Harshit Rana was allowed as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube in the fourth T20I.

Jos Buttler was frustrated with the decision, and he demanded an explanation from the match referee Javagal Srinath over Harshit Rana replacing Shivam Dube in Team India XI.

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Huge controversy in India vs England 4th T20I

The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune hosted the fourth T20I of the five-match series between India and England. During the last over of the first innings, all-rounder Shivam Dube suffered a brutal blow on his helmet off Jamie Overton's delivery.

The incident literally shook Dube and he was unable to take the field in the second innings. As a result, India opted for a concussion substitute.

Only a like-for-like replacement is allowed to be a concussion substitute and India had batting all-rounder Ramandeep Singh on the bench, who fit the definition of a like-for-like replacement for Shivam Dube.

However, to everyone's surprise, pacer Harshit Rana came in as Dube's replacement. Rana is a pure pacer who possesses some hitting ability, and him coming into the side gave India an added advantage.

It is not a like-for-like replacement - Jos Buttler

The England captain, Jos Buttler, looked visibly frustrated as things panned out on the field, and when speaking to the media after the match, he made his stance very clear.

Jos Buttler said that Rana wasn't a like-for-like replacement for Dube and took a brutal dig at Team India. He added that they were not consulted before the decision was made and questioned the match referee for allowing the swap to happen.

"It is not a like-for-like replacement. We don't agree with that. 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 said.

"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 - Jos Buttler

However, Jos Buttler, being a good sport, further said that the inclusion of Rana in India XI, who picked three big wickets, was not the whole reason behind the defeat of the visitors, but demanded more clarification from match officials.

"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," Buttler said.

Also, former cricketers like Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan, Aakash Chopra, and Nick Knight raised serious questions over the swap and slammed the match officials.