Perhaps not in public, England would acknowledge that Harshit Rana's replacement for Shivam Dube was not the issue.

In the group, if not in public, England will admit that Rana for Dube wasn't as much of a concern after realizing that they were more easily defeated by spinners.

When Harshit Rana unexpectedly received his first cap on Friday night due to a knock to Shivam Dube's head, he was forced to accept time on the sidelines and a lengthy wait for his Twenty20 International debut.

As a concussion substitute, Rana immediately made an impression, dismissing Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, and Jamie Overton with the final ball of his session to finish with outstanding three for 33 statistics. India's three-pronged spin assault ended with six for 82, in addition to Ravi Bishnoi's three for 28 and another outstanding evening for the spinners in Pune.

That ought to have been the case until England, represented by current captain Jos Buttler and previous captains Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan, questioned the decision to bring in Rana in lieu of Dube, claiming that it wasn't a "like-for-like" substitute.

The "like-for-like" phrase is intriguing since it appears to imply that, should one all-rounder be available, another all-rounder must replace them if the first one leaves. Therefore, the extension of that proposal was that Ramandeep Singh, who is an out-and-out bowler, should have replaced Dube because he was on the bench.

However, "like-for-like" refers to more than only individuals or nomenclature when it comes to resources. In all likelihood, India would have anticipated Dube to bowl—perhaps not all four of his allotted overs, but at least a few—and Ramandeep is more of a late-order batsman than a bowler. Dube averages 7.5 balls each outing (1,147 in 154 matches), while Ramandeep has bowled just 276 deliveries in 66 T20s, or just 4.2 balls per game.

When India proposed Rana as a concussion substitute to match referee Javagal Srinath, they did so on the grounds that they required a bowling option to compensate for Dube the bowler's absence. For example, Ramandeep would have stepped in to provide the batting expertise Dube's absence would have required if India had been bowling first and needed a concussion substitute. However, the closest "like-for-like" was Rana since India had to replace Dube, the bowler, and Ramandeep isn't a bowler in the broadest sense of the word.

If England had prevailed, things may have turned out differently.
While it is true that there appears to be some uncertainty when looking at things from a broad viewpoint, it is evident when looking at things more closely that the rules were not breached, despite how tempting it may be to think so given Rana's significant influence on the result. If the visitors had made it home despite Rana's valiant efforts, or if Rana had gone off anonymously and England had still lost, neither England nor anybody else would have brought up the subject.

When the dust settles and England realizes that their problems with the turning ball have further damaged them, they may admit in their group, if not in public, that Rana for Dube isn't as much of a talking point as they may have made it out to be. It is always important to keep emotion out of such situations.

The concussion substitution is still being developed, but as new and different situations arise, it will help with the learning and readjusting process. For example, in the 2019 50-over World Cup final, England defeated New Zealand on a boundary countback after the game ended in a tie in both regulation time and in the tie-breaking Super Over.

Depending on how effective the replacement is, using the concussion sub will occasionally cause hackles to rise. In the first of three Twenty20 Internationals between the two teams in Canberra in December 2020, India replaced Ravindra Jadeja with Yuzvendra Chahal, which infuriated Australia. When Australia chased 162 for victory, left-arm spinner Jadeja did not step out to field because he had injured his hamstring while batting and was pinged in the helmet by Mitchell Starc in India's final over. As the ball was spinning a mile, India substituted leggie Chahal for Jadeja, much to the chagrin of Australia, who claimed that Jadeja's head ailment was a ruse and that his hamstring strain was the only reason for his substitution.

The match referee, David Boon, defended his decision to let Chahal enter as the concussion substitute after a lengthy argument with head coach Justin Langer. Chahal won Player of the Match after bowling India to an 11-run victory with three for 25. If leggie Chahal was able to replace all-rounder Jadeja "like for like," then pacer Rana must be able to do the same for all-rounder Dube.