
Kevin Pietersen has slammed the introduction of India seamer Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute, after he dismissed Liam Livingstone with his second ball.
Rana had Livingstone caught behind for nine, having replaced Shivam Dube, who got hit on the head by a Jamie Overton delivery in the final over of India’s innings.
Rana’s wicket ball was clocked at 140.7 kph, while Dube traditionally bowls medium pace. While Dube has bowled just nine overs in his last 12 T20Is, Rana has an extremely limited T20 batting record, with two runs in three innings from 25 T20s. Rana is also making his T20I debut.
Pietersen, speaking on the host broadcaster’s coverage, said: “If you ask anybody in the world whether Harshit Rana is a like-for-like replacement, I’m not sure anyone would say that they are. He gets an extra bit of pace. He is a tall, bustling fast bowler. I can tell you something now, that England dressing room will not be happy. Jos Buttler wasn’t happy when he got out because of the substitution. It’s not like for like.”
Buttler was caught by Rana off Ravi Bishnoi’s bowling for two as England collapsed from 62-0 to 95-4 when Livingstone fell. Dube was hit on the helmet by a short ball by Overton on the penultimate ball of the innings and had to be substituted. His 34-ball 53, alongside Hardik Pandya’s 53 off 30 was instrumental in India racking up 181-9, having been 79-5 at one point.
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Pietersen said before the wicket that England would be happy to face someone who put more pace on the ball, given their recent struggles against spin. However, his issue came with the fact that Ramandeep Singh, also in the India squad, would have been a more similar concussion replacement.
He said: “I’m not sure it’s like for like. I would have thought these batters would have really enjoyed the pace coming on. They would have been happy if the pacer wasn't Harshit Rana.”
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