CSK retired Conway in the 18th over of the chase.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has criticised Chennai Super Kings (CSK) decision to retire out opener Devon Conway while chasing 219 runs against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The CSK management replaced him with Ravindra Jadeja after his 69-run knock in 49 balls. It didn’t make sense to Clarke as he believed that Conway could have played the role that was expected from Jadeja. He also pointed out how crucial these calls become to decide the fate of the match.
“I didn’t understand that decision, you retire a player that was on 69 and had spent that much time in the middle. I know you need sixes, but it’s not like Conway can’t hit sixes. That’s the thing with decisions like that as a captain, it’s always judged if you win or lose,” said Clarke to Star Sports.
However, the change of player didn’t bring in change in the match result. CSK needed 49 runs in 13 balls when they replaced Conway. MS Dhoni’s blistering cameo of 27 at a strike rate of 225 proved to be not enough as they lost the match by 18 runs. Notably, Ravindra Jadeja, who replaced Conway in the middle, hit one six stayed unbeaten on nine runs in five balls.
Previously, Mumbai Indians also made a similar decision against Lucknow Super Giants. They retired Tilak Varma in the penultimate over and sent Mitchell Santner. The call didn’t help them much in the chase as they lost the match by 12 runs.
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Former CSK spinner Piyush Chawla also disagreed with the call. He felt that it was too late to retire out the Kiwi batter. In the middle overs, CSK played 24 balls without a boundary. At that time, they could have made the change, he opined.
“If they wanted to do that, they could have done that at least two-three overs before that also. Because if he is not getting those big shots, you want somebody to come in and you want to give that kind of a sighter, at least two to three balls, and then got for it. By the time they retired him out it was too late, I felt,” stated Chawla in ESPN Cricinfo’s Time Out show.
The five-time IPL champion CSK has got a rough start in the IPL 2025. They lost four out of their five games this season so far. The Men in Yellow will take on the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Chepauk on April 11.
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