England walked into the Wankhede on Sunday hoping for a consolation victory after India had sealed the five-match series 3-1 in Pune two nights ago with a 15-run win. The triumph had come in controversial fashion as India replaced Shivam Dube, who had hit a rapid half-century to help set a target of 180-plus, with concussion substitute Harshit Rana when the former was struck by a bouncer late into his knock. Rana ended up with match defining figures of 3/33, including the crucial scalps of Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell as well as conceding just six runs in the penultimate over of the game while dispatching the dangerous Jamie Overton. Controversy unsurprisingly erupted thereafter as English skipper Jos Buttler failed to admit post-match the two Indian players were like for like, the residue of which found its way to Mumbai.
Presenter Ravi Shastri was tasked with hosting the toss for the fiffth T20I with Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav, Buttler, and match referee Javagal Srinath in attendance. As the former Indian cricket was introducing the latest of the lot, he slyly mentioned that match referees have a job to do these days, given it was Srinath who had allowed India to replace Dube with Rana. Buttler needed no further invitation and when asked to name his team by Shastri, the 34-year-old mention his squad’s non-playing members as the “impact subs”, living up to his promise from the press conference of naming a playing XII in Mumbai.
Wide smiles and smirks adorned the faces of all four men out there in the middle and Twitterati reflected those emotions in their reactions to the amusing toss ceremony.
Hahaha!
That was funny!
Jos Buttler said,”We have got four impact subs,”during the toss for the 5th T20I,making a sharp comment about the concussion sub controversy.#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/Ggb4msA6L3
— Mehran Ali (@malikmehran178) February 2, 2025
Cheeky Jos Buttler on toss😁👍🏻#INDvsENG
— @18 (@KohliKinetics18) February 2, 2025
Not holding it!
Jos Buttler, at the toss: ‘We have four impact subs in our team.’ 😂
— Noah (@PantasticNoah) February 2, 2025
LOL!
Jos Buttler said at the toss we have 4 Impact subs 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 #INDvENG
— Harnit (@Harnit_) February 2, 2025
