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England’s Chris Broad smells corruption and bias in Dube-Rana concussion fiasco
Follow UsEnglish skipper Jos Buttler also criticised match referee Javagal Srniath’s decision to allow Rana to replace Dube as a concussion substitute
Former England cricketer and international match referee Chris Broad smelled corruption and bias in the way Harshit Rana was allowed to substitute Shivam Dube as a like-for-like replacement in a concussion substitute scenario, as a result, causing a furore in the cricketing world.
"Independent match officials were brought in to stop situations like this! Why are the ICC returning to the 'bad old days' of bias and corruption?" Broad posted on X (formerly Twitter).
In another one of his replies on the same social media platform, Broad replied, “Yes Agree” to a comment which said, “How can an Indian Match Referee get away with allowing this Indian replacement? Match officials should be independent to omit bias! (sic)."
Earlier, even England captain Jos Buttler had sarcastically said that the swap was not at all 'like-for-like' because either Shivam Dube must have added 25 MPH of speed to his bowling or Rana must have become a different batter overnight.
Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, too, lambasted the Indian management for going with unsuitable like-for-like replacement, not even agreeing with the fact that a concussion substitute was even required in the first place.
"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,” he wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
"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,” the Indian legend added further.