Sunil Gavaskar hits again at India Cricket Crew for controversial substitution

Shivam Dube made the headlines after he was substituted as a concussion sub in the IND vs ENG 4th T20I. Harshit Rana took his place, made his T20I debut, and bagged 3 wickets. This in turn helped India clinch the series. Now, former India legend Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at the team management claiming Dube was not concussed.

India won the Pune match by 15 runs and ensured India won the series against England. But the game was marred with controversy. Shivam Dube slammed a fifty but was hit in the head by a Jamie Overton bouncer. During the innings break, Morne Morkel claimed Sube showed headache symptoms and thus was substituted.

Jos Buttler and the English pundits hit back hard for allowing Rana to take the field. The Three Lions claimed that in no way was Rana a like-for-like change. And now Sunil Gavaskar too has echoed the same thoughts claiming, that the concussion substitute was not proper.

“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,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in The Telegraph.

Gavaskar argued that Dube batted till the end despite being hit on his helmet. He further added that a substitute could have been added if the batter injured himself, but then the substitute would only be used for fielding and not bowling.

Also Read:

He even claimed that Dube and Rana are not players who are alike. He claimed that England had every right to be angry and disappointed. Gavaskar attacked the Indian Team claiming that they are a superb team and don’t need to tarnish their image with such acts.

“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 concluded.