The T20I series between India and England might be over, with the hosts securing a 4-1 triumph, but the concussion substitute controversy from the 4th T20I isn’t dying down. A number of former England players and a few Indians continued to discuss the incident even as the 5th and final T20I between the two sides came under the spotlight on Sunday. England skipper Jos Buttler even took a swipe at the incident from the last match by calling his 4 substitutes for the 5th T20I as ‘Impact Subs’. Now, ICC match referee Chris Broad has made some explosive remarks on the controversy.
In a heads-turning post on X (formerly Twitter), Broad claimed that ICC was returning to the ‘bad old’ days of ‘bias and corruption’ by allowing non-neutral match officials to take charge.
“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?,” Chris Broad wrote on X.
Reacting to a comment from former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who said that Harshit Rana wasn’t a like-for-like replacement for Shivam Dube, Broad said he absolutely agrees.
“Absolutely agree,” he said in reaction to Pietersen’s comment. “How can an Indian Match Referee get away with allowing this Indian replacement? Match officials should be independent to omit bias! (sic).”
Absolutely agree. How can an Indian Match Referee get away with allowing this Indian replacement? Match officials should be independent to omit bias!
— Chris Broad (@ChrisBroad3) February 1, 2025
It also has to be noted that Broad himself was officiating an England vs Pakistan match last year in May at the Oval. Asked to comment on the posts, he told Cricbuzz, “I have nothing more to say.”
Broad is one of the most respected ICC officials in the sport. He has officiated 622 games on the international circuit so far. The tally makes him stand third in the list of officials with the most matches, behind Ranjan Madugalle (798) and Jeff Crowe (656).
Even Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar had come down all guns blazing at the Gautam Gambhir-led team management, saying even allowing a concussion substitute wasn’t correct.
“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,” Gavaskar wrote in a Telegraph column.
“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.”
