England captain Jos Buttler took a brutal dig at India at the toss during the 5th T20I in Mumbai as he announced they are playing 'four impact subs', pointing to the concussion substitute controversy during the previous game. In the video surfaced on social media, the 34-year-old also announced one change for the dead-rubber game as the tourists opted to bowl first.
Buttler had clearly expressed his displeasure after India decided to sub in pace bowler Harshit Rana for a genuine all-rounder in Shivam Dube, who had suffered a concussion during his whirlwind 53 in Rajkot. Rana, who jumped in as a concussion replacement and made a decisive difference in the game, taking figures of 4-0-33-3 to fashion a 15-run win and a series victory for the hosts.
At the post-game presser, Buttler said:
"It is not a like-for-like replacement. We don't agree with that. Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. It's part of the game and we really should have gone on to win the match, but we disagree with the decision."
Meanwhile, Buttler said the following during the toss in Mumbai:
"We played some good cricket in patches. We should have executed it better though. Need to grab the special moments in the game. There's a good vibe in the team, it's a good venue and it's a great crowd. It's a good wicket, Mark Wood comes back in. Both teams are high-octane. We have four impact subs in our team."
India and England playing XI:
Team India playing XI: Sanju Samson(wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy
England playing XI: Philip Salt(wk), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
