“It seems absolute madness” - Former captain’s massive statement on concussion sub controversy in IND vs ENG 2025 4th T20I

Former England captain Alastair Cook was unimpressed with India's usage of the concussion substitute in the fourth T20I at Pune. Batting all-rounder Shivam Dube was struck on the helmet after scoring a half-century in the penultimate ball of the first innings.

Subsequently, he did not take the field during England's run-chase and India substituted him with a specialist pacer Harshit Rana. While the concussion substitute protocol allows for a like-for-like replacement, Rana being a far superior bowler to Dube was undeniable.

It led to several former England players fuming, including Cook, who said to TNT Sports after the game [quoted by BBC]:

"Replacing a big-hitting batting all-rounder, who has bowled one over in the IPL [in 2024], with a guy who can't bat and bowls heavy seam makes no sense to me whatsoever. It seems absolute madness that you are allowed to do it, but credit to the lad on debut, but he shouldn't be allowed to play there. It gave the captain another brilliant option."

Rana utilized the opportunity to the fullest, returning with figures of 3/33 in four overs to help India win by 15 runs. It was also incidentally Rana's T20I debut, coming in the most unusual circumstances.

"England were dumb with some of their shots" - Alastair Cook

England threw away an advantageous situation during the run-chase in Pune [Credit: Getty]

Alastair Cook blamed the English batters for playing incomprehensible shots to lose the Pune outing from a winning position against India. Amid the concussion substitute controversy, the visitors coasted to 129/4 in the 15th over, requiring only 53 runs off 34 deliveries.

However, a series of poor shots saw them collapse to 166 all-out with two balls remaining.

"England were dumb with some of their shots and that is quite a hard thing to say because T20 cricket is a balancing act. Sometimes the modern thinking is not right. Ben Duckett played beautifully today and we were 62-0 with one ball of the powerplay left. Just see it out and knock a single, then regroup again," said Cook.

He added:

"I don't know if it is ego to just keep on playing their way. Just take a single and think about how important the next three or four overs against spin are going to be and your best player of spin can go at six or seven an over. If Brook had hit Chakravarthy for six runs they'd have needed just 10 in the final five overs with their best bowler done."

With the Pune loss, England squandered an opportunity to level the five-match series and now trail 1-3. The series finale (dead rubber) will be played in Mumbai on Sunday, February 2.