Australia v India T20: Justin Langer escapes penalty following heated exchange with match referee David Boon

Match referee David Boon has determined whether Justin Langer will be sanctioned following their heated exchange during Friday night’s T20 clash.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Justin Langer bump fists after the match. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Justin Langer has avoided sanction from his old teammate David Boon, as India claimed their rush to rule Ravi Jadeja out of the rest of the Twenty20 series had nothing to do with a hamstring injury.

Match referee Boon has ruled his heated confrontation with Langer, which was captured by TV cameras out in the open, was nothing more than healthy, robust discussion between two old mates of nearly 30 years.

Boon also cleared India of any wrongdoing out of the bizarre concussion sub incident, ruling that Virat Kohli’s team had followed protocols to the letter of the law.

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David Boon and Justin Langer clash over the concussion substitute ruling.

An ICC spokesperson said India’s medical representative Dr Abhjit Salvi informed Boon and his match officials that there was a concussion to Ravi Jadeja and as such there would be a substitute in Yuzvendra Chahal.

But suspicions lingered on Saturday after the BCCI ruled Jadeja out for the rest of the T20 series with concussion within hours of the match finishing.

There is no disputing Jadeja copped a hefty blow to the helmet following a Mitchell Starc delivery and him missing the rest of the match sat in line with how sports now treat concussion with a no-nonsense approach.

However, what is highly unusual is for an athlete to be so swiftly ruled out of an entire series with concussion before further tests are administered.

“Jadeja remains under observation and will be taken for further scans if required. He will not take any further part in the ongoing T20 series,” the statement said soon after the match.

All eyes will be whether Jadeja’s Test preparations beyond the next week are affected, given he also appeared to suffer a hamstring injury, which he had treated the over before his head knock.

There were some eyebrows raised in the Indian camp on Saturday night after learning Langer had been cleared, with some feeling that publicly remonstrating with a match referee in between innings would be hard to get away with under the game’s code of conduct.

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Australia made noises post-match questioning whether Chahal, an out-and-out leg-spinner, was a genuine like-for-like replacement for Jadeja, a left-arm off-spinning allrounder.

It didn’t help that Chahal was named man of the match for his half-game heroics taking three wickets, including Aaron Finch and Steve Smith.

However, the fact Jadeja was subbed out for a bowling innings rather than a batting innings was enough to satisfy the ICC – because in that context they were like-for-like.

Australia on Saturday played down the incident and said they had moved on.

Ravi Jadeja was subbed out with concussion after his whirlwind knock guided India to 161.

Yuzvendra Chahal claimed three matchwinning wickets as the substitute.

“There’s that debate, is it like for like, but at the end of the day the decision was made by the match officials. They’ve crossed it off, ticked the box and said it was OK,” said Australian spinner Mitchell Swepson.

“He bowled really well Chahal, so I guess that accentuated the whole debate about it.”

It was a bizarre incident altogether and Australia’s frustrated reaction might be best explained by the fact their own protocols – even stricter than the ICC’s – dictate that a doctor would have rushed out to Jadeja the moment he was rattled on the helmet by the Mitchell Starc delivery.

Jadeja batted on without being checked and scored nine runs off the final couple of deliveries before he was tested in the dressing room.

It’s something the ICC could review, in the very least to remove suspicion over whether a team might have ulterior motives for calling in a concussion sub.

The grey area on Friday night was the fact Jadeja had already suffered a hamstring injury in his previous batting over and may have been in grave doubt to bowl in the second innings even before taking a bonk to the head.

India did not break regulations because ICC rules say the doctor doesn’t need to come out to the middle until the end of the over.

However, had Jadeja been immediately assessed it might have been better for the optics of how the event played out.

SUBSTITUTE CALL CREATES CONTROVERSY

All-rounder Moises Henriques indicated post-match that while Australia weren’t questioning the Indian doctor about the concussion or the hamstring, the question they were asking was whether Chahal was a fair like-for-like replacement for Jadeja, which is what the rules dictate.

Both men are spinners, but Jadeja is an all-rounder and Chahal an out and out bowler.

The hit to Jadeja’s helmet was not incidental, but the fact he was not immediately assessed opened a can of worms because of the obvious hamstring strain that had already occurred.

Jadeja had smashed consecutive fours to finish India’s innings of 7-161 after receiving the blow.

Chahal then took three wickets as his substitute.

“One is an all-rounder and a gun fielder and the other one is an out and out bowler who bats No. 11,” Henriques said.

“It’s nothing to do with his hammy. I guess I’d like to look into that as a like-for-like decision so to speak because we’ve already seen one half of how Jadeja can be, how well he can bat.

After 20 overs India reached 161, largely thanks to Jadeja.

“He’s been a thorn for us with the bat, so once the batting innings is done is probably the only thing.

“There’s no doubt he got hit on the head, he got hit on the helmet and then professionals made a decision from there.”

Henriques said there’s no problem with the concussion rule.

“From our point of view as a player you have just got to roll and get on with it,” he said.

“Once the decision has been made you move forward and do what you can to win the fixture. When you have got professionals in place to make those decisions, there’s no doubt he got a knock on the helmet, I do try and see the best in everyone.

“Having said that, whether it was a like for like replacement – that’s the question we’d like to see.

“There’s no doubt he got a knock on the head from my point of view.

“When you have got doctors making those decisions he can get a concussion sub those decisions need to be made. What happened from there is the next question I guess.”

Indian captain Virat Kohli said Jadeja was “dizzy”.

“Jadeja got a knock on the head last over and was a bit dizzy and still is,” Kohli said on the night.

“Concussion replacements are strange things, today it worked for us.”

Australian captain Finch said his team were not disputing the Indian doctor.

“It was just letting us know the doctor had ruled Jadeja out with concussion,” said Finch.

“Not much you can say to that. You’re not challenging a medical expert in that regard are you?”

Originally published as Australia v India T20: Justin Langer escapes penalty following heated exchange with match referee David Boon