England captain Jos Buttler has questioned India's decision to bring on Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute in the third T20I in Pune on Friday. 

Bowler Rana replaced batting all-rounder Shivam Dube and picked up three wickets as the hosts won by 15 runs to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. 

Rana picked up the wickets of Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton and returned figures of 3-33 on his T20I debut as the tourists were bundled out for 166. 

"It is not a like-for-like replacement. Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting," said Buttler after the game. 

"It's part of the game and we really should have gone on to win the match, but we disagree with the decision.

"There was no consultation [with us]. That's something I was thinking as I came out to bat - who is Harshit on for? They said he is a concussion replacement, which I obviously disagreed with. 

For his vital half-century, Shivam Dube bagged the Player of the Match Award in the fourth #INDvENG T20I.

Scorecard https://t.co/pUkyQwxOA3#TeamIndia | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/rMbxYog0mO

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 31, 2025

"They said that the match referee had made the decision. We had no say in it or any part of it. But we'll ask [match referee] Javagal [Srinath] some questions just to get some clarity around it."

Dube, who scored 53 as India reached 181-9 after batting first, was hit on his helmet by an Overton bouncer in the final over.

He went to finish India's innings, but Rana was then approved as his concussion replacement by the match referee for England's chase. 

While Dube is primarily a batter, Rana has only battered three times in 26 T20s. 

"Like I said, it was not the whole reason why we did not win the match. We had our chances to win the game which we could have still taken. But I'd like to have a bit more clarity on that," the England skipper added. 

England were unbeaten in each of their last three men's T20I multi-game bilateral series (W2 D1) and Friday's defeat marks their first such series defeat since a 3-2 loss away to the West Indies in December 2023.

The two teams will meet again in the final T20I in Mumbai on Sunday before facing each other in three ODIs.