He had made 25 runs off 23 balls including two fours.
Mumbai Indians’ (MI) decision to send back Tilak Varma at 180/4 with seven balls remaining in the chase against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) is being criticised. Varma had scored 25 in 23 balls. However, MI failed to score 24 in the next seven balls and eventually lost the match by 12 runs.
In a show with Cricbuzz, the former India batter Virendra Sehwag questioned their strategy behind this move. He stated that there had been incidents when they wanted someone to be dismissed but never retired them. He also opined that the two balls faced by Mitchell Santner might have been a boundary if faced by Varma.
“I didn’t understand why they got him to retire out. He had played 20-25 deliveries, yes his shots weren’t connecting, but it’s not like Santner did something in the two balls he faced. If the last over was going to be faced by Hardik Pandya then why retire him. Who knows, on Santner’s two deliveries, maybe Tilak Varma hits a boundary. There would have been some benefit, but it’s outside my understanding. In our time this kind of thing never happened, we always wished get him off the field, get out and come back. But we never even thought to retire out”, said Sehwag.
Former player Murali Kartik also took a dig at MI’s decision as the skipper Hardik Pandya refused to rotate the strike with Santner in the last over.
“If you have called Santner in with the belief that he can hit the big shot, then why did Pandya not take the single in the last over? If you have retired him out and want to maintain your logic for that, then you should have given Mitchell Santner the strike”, stressed Kartik.
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Ex-MI spinner Harbhajan Singh also disagreed with the franchise’s choice to send Santner over Varma. He took to his X account (formerly Twitter) and pointed it out as a mistake. It might have been right if it were for Kieron Pollard or any other big hitter of the cricketing world, opined the 44-year-old.
“Retiring Tilak for Santer was a mistake in my opinion. Is Santner a better hitter than Tilak? If it was for Pollard or some other accomplished hitter I would have understood. But Don’t agree with this. Come on @mipaltan”, wrote Harbhajan.
MI has started off the season with a poor run. They have lost three out of their four games so far in the Indian Premier League (IPL)2025. The Hardik-led side will take on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium on April 7.
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