An appetising decider at the Wankhede on Sunday seemed likely. The hosts were 12 for three, stunned by a triple-wicket maiden by Saqib Mahmood, Jos Buttler finally on the right end of the toss. Three and a bit hours later the series belonged to India, England 3-1 down with one to play, and a tinge of substitute controversy in there too.

Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube were the saviours, hitting 53 apiece to set England an imposing target of 182. Dube was conked on the helmet during his knock, prompting a concussion replacement, with Harshit Rana coming in for his Twenty20 international debut during the England innings. With Rana a far more significant bowling threat, this was hardly a like-for-like change, as the playing conditions demand.

Rana’s role would be impactful, too. While Harry Brook led England’s reply with a 26-ball 51, the hulking quick took three wickets, including that of Jamie Overton in the penultimate over when the match remained up for grabs, 25 required off 12 balls. An inside-edge would see the England all-rounder bowled, a 15-run victory secured minutes later.

“It’s not a like-for-like replacement, we don’t agree with that,” said Buttler. “Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. It’s part of the game. I still think we should have gone on to win the match. But we disagree with the decision. We’ll ask Javagal [Srinath, the match referee] some questions just to get some clarity around it.”

It had begun so well for England. Replacing the rested Mark Wood, Mahmood’s impact was immediate with the second over of the match, his first of the tour. Sanju Samson pulled away Mahmood’s first delivery to deep backward square; Tilak Varma charged the next but ended up getting a thick edge to Jofra Archer at third. Suryakumar Yadav patted away the next few, a hat-trick denied, but chipped to short mid-on to close the over.

Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh counterattacked before the No 1-ranked T20 international bowler in the world intervened. Adil Rashid tempted Sharma into a slog towards deep midwicket for 29 before Dube was dropped by Buttler, though it was a difficult chance at slip. Playing his first international since last August, Dube took advantage. He welcomed Rashid’s spin, collecting 25 off 11 deliveries from the leggie on the way to his half-century.

Pandya brought the greatest danger, coming in at 79 for five, dominating the 87-run vibe-changing stand with Dube. The former has power but also the touches of an old-school technician, visible through his drives and a Test hundred on the resume. He took sixes off Mahmood, Archer and Overton, setting India up for the highest first-innings total of the series. It was some recovery.

Ben Duckett was the dominant force in England’s powerplay, Arshdeep Singh tucked away for three consecutive on-side boundaries before various sweeps took care of spin. Fifty came up inside five overs before the tumble. Duckett miscued off Ravi Bishnoi for a 19-ball 39 with the final act of the powerplay before Phil Salt was bowled by Axar Patel. Buttler found short third to provide Bishnoi greater joy, England having lost three wickets for five runs and nine balls, the onus on an out-of-nick Brook to sort the mess.

There was a new customer to deal with, too. Rana was called upon in the 12th over and had Liam Livingstone guiding to the ball into the keeper’s hands for nine. Brook did enjoy the fast bowler’s presence, however, taking consecutive sixes off him including a delicious leg-side flick.

Brook’s main nemesis in this series, Varun Chakravarthy, then forced a failed scoop in the 15th over. Overton and Rashid strung things along with a 17-run stand as the former turned down singles against Rana, trying to smash away himself. It didn’t work.