Tilak Varma retired himself out in 19th over, when Mumbai Indians needed 24 runs to win from seven balls.
Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Tilak Varma retired out during his team’s IPL 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on Friday. Tilak Varma was named as an impact player during Mumbai Indians’ run chase and replaced young spinner Vignesh Puthur. Tilak scored 25 runs from 23 balls before retiring out.
Tilak Varma retired himself out in 19th over, when Mumbai Indians needed 24 runs to win from seven balls. New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner walked out to bat as soon as Tilak retired out. Tilak could only manage to score 25 runs from 23 balls. The move to retire out Tilak seems like a strategic move from the Mumbai Indians team management. Mumbai Indians, however, went onto lose the match by 12 runs after they were restricted to 191/5 from 20 overs.
This is the fourth occasion in the IPL wherein a batter has retired out. The first instance of a batter retiring out was when Ravichandran Ashwin, playing for Rajasthan Royals in 2022, retired out against Lucknow Super Giants. Atharva Taide (vs Delhi Capitals, 2023) and Sai Sudharsan (vs Mumbai Indians, 2023) are the other instances of batters retiring out.
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya opened up on the call to retire out Tilak Varma. “We needed some hits, he was not getting those. In cricket some of those days come, when you try but they don’t come. Just play good cricket, I like to keep it simple. Take better calls, be smart in bowling, take chances in batting,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
After being asked to bat first, Lucknow Super Giants rode on fifties from Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram to post a challenging total of 203/8. All-rounder Hardik Pandya was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai Indians as he finished with a five-wicket haul.
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Mumbai Indians’ run chase got off to a worrying start as they lost openers Will Jacks and Ryan Rickelton in the powerplay. However, crucial contributions from the middle-order led Mumbai Indians’ fightback. Naman Dhir scored 46 runs off 24 balls whereas Suryakumar Yadav impressed with 67 runs from 43 balls. Hardik Pandya scored 28 runs from 16 balls but the five-time champions fell well short of the target.
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