Michael Vaughan Mocks India's Squad Depth After Concussion Substitute Controversy in 4th T20I Against England

In an exciting five-match T20I series between India and England, the Indian team won in the fourth T20I in Pune and India clinched the series 3-1 against England. The former and current England players are upset with the umpire's decision to allow Harshit Rana to replace Shivam Dube as a concussion substitute in the fourth T20I.

During the last over of the first innings, J Overton bowled a sharp short ball to Shivam Dube's helmet he suffered a concussion. The officials allowed Harshit Rana to replace Dube. The star bowler Rana took three wickets in his four spell and helped India to win the match by 15 runs against England and sealed the series. 

The star batter Dube had already scored a half-century in the first innings but he couldn't take the field after the injury. When Rana took the England captain caught, the visitors looked frustrated. While England captain Jos Buttler attended the post-match press conference, he refused to accept Rana as a like-for-like replacement. Buttler pointed out that Shivam Dube was playing mainly as a batter and he bowls as a part-time medium-fast bowler, Whereas Harshit was a fast bowler.

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The Indian cricket commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle praised India's squad depth on X(formerly Twitter), but the England former captain Michael Vaughan didn't agree with his views

Especially when you can replace a batter with a bowler 😜 https://t.co/BVs3dfQKjN

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 31, 2025

According to the ICC rules, teams can replace a like-to-like replacement in case of any concussion during the match. However, the teams have started using this rule to their advantage by picking substitutes who don't exactly match the injured player. If a team is chasing the target, they bring a better batter, even if a bowler gets injured. When it comes to defending a total, they replace a bowler instead of a batter. Now, it is up to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to step in and prevent teams from bending the rule to their advantage to win the games.

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