Tilak Varma retired out after he struggled his way to 25 off 23 balls in the 204-run chase against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. Tilak was the impact substitute in the clash, but was pulled back by MI after he failed to make an impression.
Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma became the fourth player to be retired out in the history of the Indian Premier League, after his struggle against Lucknow Super Giants made MI pull the batter out. Chasing 204, in their clash against LSG at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday, April 4, MI retired Tilak out in the penultimate over and brought Mitchell Santner in.
Tilak, who came in as an impact substitute for Vignesh Puthur in the chase, scored 25 off 23 balls in the chase and was pulled out when MI needed 24 from seven balls. MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene revealed it was his call to retire Tilak out and opened up on the decision.
“He just wanted to get going, but he couldn’t,” Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference after his team’s 12-run loss to LSG. “[We] waited till the last few overs, hoping that [he would find his rhythm], because he had spent some time there so he should have been able to get that hit out of the way, but I just felt that at the end, I just needed someone fresh to go, and he was struggling.
“These things happen in cricket. Not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point.”
Tilak walked out after being retired out as Santner replaced him for the final few balls. However, MI could not cross the line despite skipper Hardik Pandya being in the middle. LSG bowlers – Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan – displayed brilliance in the last two overs to deny MI a win. Shardul bowled a mingy seven-run penultimate over with Hardik and Tilak in the middle.
Avesh was bestowed with the responsibility to deliver the final over with 22 runs in the bag and he stood on the occasion despite conceding a six on the first ball to the MI skipper. The speedster held his nerves and delivered a nine-run over as LSG won the game by 12 runs.
MI skipper Pandya also spoke on Tilak’s decision. “I think that was obvious,” Hardik said in the post-match presentation. “We needed some hits, and he was not [able to get them]. Sometimes in cricket one of those days comes when you really want to try but it does not happen, but the decision (speaks for itself), why we did it.”