Gautam Gambhir opens up on Ravindra Jadeja's concussion controversy

During the first T20 international between India and Australia, a huge controversy had erupted when the visitors had named Yuzvendra Chahal as a concussion substitute for Ravindra Jadeja. The Australian team including the coach Justin Langer were visibly upset with this decision and had a chat with the match-referee regarding the same.

Australia felt that Chahal wasn’t a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja. Also, they were of the view that Jadeja was out of the game due to a hamstring injury and not a concussion as he had continued his exploits with the bat even after getting hit on the helmet on the delivery by Mitchell Starc in the last over. Notably, Chahal had proved to be a masterstroke as he bowled a match-winning spell of 4-0-25-3 to propel India towards a victory by 11 runs.

Detailing his opinion on the whole controversy, the veteran opening batsman Gautam Gambhir underlined that there was no harm in India naming Chahal as a replacement as it was approved by the match referee. However, Gambhir also empathized with Australian coach Langer saying that his concern was genuine since Chahal is a world-class bowler in the shortest format of the game.

Yuzvendra Chahal had a huge impact on this game: Gautam Gambhir

“It’s the match referee call as well. What he thinks about it, that’s more important. I know Justin Langer would be unhappy because Ravindra Jadeja was batting, and he had a hamstring niggle as well. And getting someone like Yuzvendra Chahal who is probably a very, very good T20 bowler. He would expect it to make things worst for Australia and it did. Because the kind of impact he had in the 2nd innings, was huge from India’s point of view,” Gambhir told ESPN Cricinfo.

The former opener further added that Jadeja might have suffered a delayed concussion and it was an absolutely correct decision by the Indian team to use the substitute. Gambhir believes that if ICC had laid out some rules then there is no problem if the Indian team utilized it to their advantage.

“I understand that Australia must be frustrated, but it could be a delayed concussion as well. If there is a concussion, and there is a concussion rule, why not use it. India used it to the best of their advantage bringing in a wrist spinner. We kept talking about India may miss a wrist spinner and they did not miss the wrist spinner. He had a huge impact on this game. If there is actually concussion, so it is fair on India to use that,” he added.