England left with little recourse over controversial concussion substitute

England are resigned to drawing a line under Harshit Rana’s controversial appearance as a concussion substitute after he helped India take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the T20 series.

Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, is understood to have spoken with match referee Javagal Srinath after India’s 15-run win in Pune about Rana replacing Shivam Dube midway through the fourth T20.

Rana took three crucial wickets on debut after Shivam Dube, who made 53 off 34 balls in India’s 181 for nine, took a blow to the helmet and was deemed unfit to take the field for England’s 166 all out.

While Dube is a batting all-rounder who bowls medium pace – and has delivered his full four-over quota just twice in 34 matches – Rana is a 90mph quick and has batted three times in 26 professional T20s.

Srinath, a former India paceman, agreeing to the switch was heavily criticised, with ex-England captain Sir Alastair Cook telling TNT Sports that the decision was “absolute madness” and made “no sense”.

A distinctly unimpressed England captain Jos Buttler joked afterwards: “Maybe at the toss next game I will say we are going to play 12 (players)”, adding his side would seek more clarity from Srinath, arguing batting all-rounder Ramandeep Singh was more of an equal exchange.

While McCullum had a conversation with Srinath afterwards, England have little recourse to take the matter further but debate could bubble up again if Dube is selected for Sunday’s fifth T20 in Mumbai.

The Lancashire fast bowler was player of the series against the West Indies in November and has taken his tally to a dozen wickets in his last five matches, with 11 dismissals in the six-over powerplay.

“It’s having that mindset of trying to be aggressive,” he said. “I’ve watched (India’s batters) in the first few games come out hard. From my side it’s just about backing myself and not try to play it safe.

“When you have that mindset, you tend to not look at failures and (instead) look at how you want to get wickets. When you have that mindset, things tend to work your way a little bit.”

Mahmood’s preparations for this white-ball tour were hit when he became the latest player of Pakistani heritage to experience a delay with his visa, forcing him to miss a pre-series camp in Abu Dhabi.

As well as illness to contend with in recent weeks, Mahmood has had to train away from Emirates Old Trafford and been unable to get in his full run-up because of minor renovations at the ground.

“That was just the last nail in the coffin,” he said. “I wanted to get to India in a place where I didn’t really have to train and my game was in a good place but it was the complete opposite.”

Mahmood will look to build up his workload in the upcoming three-match ODI series against India, which starts on Thursday in Nagpur, ahead of the Champions Trophy beginning in Pakistan later this month.

Despite signing a white-ball only deal with Lancashire over the winter, Mahmood intends to feature in the County Championship – joining forces with James Anderson – as he looks to get back into the Test side, having made two appearances in March 2022 before injury disrupted his career.

“I’m hoping I can build more tolerance over the next few weeks in 50-over cricket,” Mahmood added. “If all goes well, I’ll play some red-ball games at the start of the season.

“Maybe not the first couple of games but I’m putting a plan in place. That contract was if my body’s not up to it then I’m not getting money from Lancashire to play red-ball cricket.”