Gavaskar Says Harshit Rana For Shivam Dube: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has given his opinion on the controversial concussion substitution of Shivam Dube with Harshit Rana during the 4th IND vs ENG T20I in Pune, which India won by only 15 runs. Dube smashed a fifty, and then Rana took a three-wicket haul as India prevailed by a close margin.
That the match referee allowed Harshit, a proper bowler, to substitute Dube, a batting all-rounder, was the major point of controversy. England captain Jos Buttler had said after the Pune T20I that he didn’t feel Rana was a like-for-like substitution for Dube.
Gavaskar Says Harshit Rana For Shivam Dube
Similar sentiments have been echoed by Gavaskar, who has even opined that Dube “was not concussed” since he kept batting until the end of India’s innings after being hit in the helmet by a bouncer from Jamie Overton at the start of the 20th over.
“In the Pune game, Dube batted right till the end after having got hit on the helmet earlier, so clearly, he was not concussed. So, allowing a concussion substitute itself was not correct. Yes, there could have been a substitute in case he had strained a muscle while batting, but that would have been only for fielding, and he could not have bowled,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
Interestingly, Dube played in the 5th T20I in Mumbai. Not only did he bowl a couple of overs, but he also took two wickets, including that of England’s top scorer in the match, Phil Salt. His second wicket was Jacob Bethell.
England Has Every Reason To Feel Done In: Sunil Gavaskar
Gavaskar further commented that Dube’s like-for-like replacement was certainly not Harshit and that England was correct in feeling done unjust. The former opener reckons India’s win in Pune was tarnished by this controversy.
“Even by the most generous stretching of the like-for-like term, there was nothing such between Dube and Rana. With tongue firmly in cheek, one can say that they are the same height and have the same standard in fielding. Otherwise, there’s nothing like-for-like as far as they are concerned. England has every reason to feel done in. This Indian team is a superb team and doesn’t need its wins to get tarnished by such acts,” Gavaskar added.
India absolutely dominated England in the 5th T20I, courtesy of Abhishek Sharma’s blistering century, and won the series by a 4-1 margin.
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