ICC Faces Corruption Charges After Harshit Rana-Shivam Dube Concussion Sub Controversy

Chris Broad, ex-England opener and now match referee, has condemned the ICC for ‘biased and corrupt’ practices in reaction to the concussion substitute controversy involving Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana during the 4th T20I between India and England in Pune.

India decided to bring in Harshit Rana as Shivam Dube’s replacement in the Pune T20I after Jamie Overton's hard 141.5 kph bouncer hit Shivam Dube in the helmet in India's final over before being run out by England captain Jos Buttler.

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However, Dube had already caused significant harm to the England National Cricket Team in Pune. Shivam Dube (53 runs off 34 balls) had stitched an 87-run partnership with Hardik Pandya (53) to help the Men in Blue recover from 57 for 4 and post 181 for 9 in the fourth T20I against England.

Harshit Rana as Shivam Dube’s replacement for concussion sparks controversy

The real controversy came, however, when the hosts chose to bring in medium-pace bowler Harshit Rana as a precautionary substitute for the all-rounder for the T20I series decider in Pune.

Interestingly, India had batting all-rounder Ramandeep Singh on the bench, who appeared to be a better fit as a like-for-like replacement for Dube, but they chose Rana even though international cricket regulations explicitly require a like-for-like replacement in such cases.

Ramandeep replaced Varun Chakravarthy for a brief period of time during the contest. It provoked widespread outrage, with many England and India experts denouncing the Indian team management for undermining their reputation by employing such measures to win the series.

ICC using ‘biased and corrupt practices: Chris Broad blames ICC match referee for allowing the substitute

Chris Broad, a former England cricketer, and ICC match referee, has questioned the decision to use Harshit Rana as a concussion substitution for Shivam Dube in the Pune Twenty20 International.

The former ICC match referee questioned the governing organization and blasted match officials for failing to prevent "bias and corruption" during the match. Notably, all four umpires officiating in the match were Indians, and former Indian cricketer Javagal Srinath was the match referee for the series.

Chris Broad alleges the International Cricket Council

Rana, in particular, contributed significantly to India's series-winning 15-run victory over England in Pune, collecting three wickets for 33 runs.

“Independent match officials were brought in to stop situations like this! Why is the ICC returning to the 'bad old days' of bias and corruption?” Chris Broad posted on X.

https://t.co/9WaxfmoJnt

Independent match officials were brought in to stop situations like this! Why are the ICC returning to the ‘bad old days’ of bias and corruption? #BCCI #ICC #bias #INDvENG

— Chris Broad (@ChrisBroad3) February 1, 2025

Reacting to a comment from former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who said that Harshit Rana wasn't a like-for-like replacement for Shivam Dube, Broad said he absolutely agrees.

"Absolutely agree. How can an Indian match referee get away with allowing this Indian replacement? Match officials should be independent to omit bias! (sic),” Broad said.

Absolutely agree. How can an Indian Match Referee get away with allowing this Indian replacement? Match officials should be independent to omit bias!

— Chris Broad (@ChrisBroad3) February 1, 2025

Broad has officiated in 622 games on the international circuit so far, which ranks him third among most matches, behind Ranjan Madugalle (798) and Jeff Crowe (656).

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