Legendary opener Alastair Cook opined that Harshit Rana coming in as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube made 'no sense' during the fourth T20I between India and England in Pune on Friday (January 31).

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, pace bowler Harshit was brought in as a concussion substitute and made a decisive difference in the game, returning with the figures of 4-0-33-3 to script India’s series-clinching 15-run victory.

The move to bring Harshit for Dube has been widely debated 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.

"You've got to love cricket because it throws up so many stories. At half time you would never have thought that story would have been a concussion sub. He made such a big impact on the game," Cook said while speaking to TNT Sports.

"Replacing a big-hitting batting all-rounder, who has bowled one over in the IPL, with a guy who can't bat and bowls heavy seam makes no sense to me whatsoever."

"England should have still won the game and would have probably preferred a seamer to a spinner but I don't understand it. They had Washington Sundar who got replaced because they wanted more batting in the side."

"It seems absolute madness that you are allowed to do it, but credit to the lad on debut, but he shouldn't be allowed to play there," he added.

While Cook claimed that introducing Harshit was a wrong call, he reckons England should have won the game regardless of who the concussion substitute was.

"It gave the captain another brilliant option. They also had Abhishek Sharma, another spinner, who didn't bowl in this game. Harshit Rana has absolutely helped the India side."

"We can rant about it all we like, it was the wrong call, but England should have won the game. The headline isn't about the concussion sub," the former England captain remarked.

In the post-match presser, England skipper Jos Buttler also criticized the move, saying that it was not a like-to-like replacement.

“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,” Buttler told reporters.

"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.

"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," he further stated.

The fifth and final T20I of the series will be played in Mumbai on Sunday (February 2).