The situation arose after Dube, who scored 53, was hit on the helmet by a Jamie Overton bouncer off the penultimate ball of the final over in India’s innings.

He was assessed by India’s medical staff and allowed to face the final ball, but Harshit was subsequently approved as his concussion replacement by the match referee, allowing him to take Dube’s place and, crucially, bowl in England’s chase.

England were unhappy, however, because playing conditions state concussion subs must be “like-for-like”.

Dube, who bowls gentle medium pace, has bowled in less than a third of his T20s since the start of 2024 and is primarily a batter, having been carded in the top seven in all of his T20 internationals.

Harshit was making his T20 debut but bowls close to 90mph and has only batted three times in his 26 T20s – once at number 10 and twice at number 11.

The 23-year-old went on to dismiss Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton and took figures of 3-33 in India’s 15-run win.

With the game in the balance, he also bowled the penultimate over when 25 runs were needed from 12 balls. He conceded only six and dismissed Overton to effectively seal the game.