Harshit Rana played a key role in India's 15-run win over England in the fourth T20I.
With Dube being hit on the helmet during his brilliant knock of 53, it was determined during the innings break that the all-rounder hadn't been deemed fit to field.
As a result, Harshit was brought in as a concussion substitute and he made a massive difference in the game, returning with the figures of 4-0-33-3 to script India’s series-clinching 15-run victory.
This move has stirred a controversy as the ICC rules state that only like-for-like replacements can be fielded by teams when one of the players gets concussed on the field.
After the game, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel addressed the issue, detailing about what happened in the dressing room that led to Harshit being named a concussion substitute.
Morkel revealed that Dube had a headache after returning to the dressing room. He further stated that the team gave Rana’s name as the replacement, and it was the match referee Javagal Srinath who made the call.
“As far as I’m aware Shivam Dube obviously took the knock against the head and came off the field during 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’s up to the referee to take that decision. So a decision was made,” said Morkel in the post-match presser.
Morkel mentioned how Rana had to quickly get ready and reiterated that it was the referee’s decision that allowed them to field the debutant as a replacement.
“Harshit was having dinner. He had to get himself ready as quickly as possible to get on to the field and bowl. Yeah, I thought he did an excellent job. No, like I said that it goes to the powers above me, match referee, he made the decision. We can only take the name forward and from there it’s out of our hands. We got the green light to go with that and we gave him the opportunity,” the bowling coach remarked.
Coming to the match, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav got out in the second over of India’s innings, with the hosts left reeling at 12/3.
Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh also failed to make a mark as the hosts slumped to 79/5 before the 11th over. But Hardik Pandya and Dube joined hands and stitched a partnership of 87 runs with twin 53-run knocks off 30 and 34 balls respectively to propel India to a good score of 181/9.
During the chase, the visitors were cruising as they reached 62/0 before the last ball of the powerplay and looked in a strong position to overhaul the target.
A wicket on the last ball of the sixth over, two more in the next two overs and then Harshit’s superb spell helped India bounce back into the match.