Last night’s IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants came as a surprise for the cricket community and its audience as Ravichandran Ashwin became the first batter in IPL history to be tactically retired out.
At no. 6, Ashwin scored 28 off 23 when he walked off allowing Riyan Parag to join Shimron Hetmyer in the middle. Parag scored 8 off 4 balls and Hetmyer completed 59 of 36 as RR finished on 165 for 6.
“I have no idea about that retire-out decision from Ashwin! It was a good decision in the end,” Hetmyer told Star Sports during the innings break.
Only four batters, including Ashwin, have been dismissed and retired out in T20s. Shahid Afridi for the Pakistanis, Sonam Tobgay of Bhutan and Sunzamul Islam of Cumilla Warriors are on the list too.
Former West Indies cricketer Ian Raphael Bishop reacted to the incident and called it “fascinating T20 tactics”.
Ashwin retired out is fascinating T20 tactics. T20 is causing us to rethink the way we conceive the game of in the 21st century.😊😊
Advertisement— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) April 10, 2022
After the match, Sanju Samson, RR’s captain revealed that it was a team decision. He said that it was a part of their discussion even before the start of the 15th season.
“It’s about being Rajasthan Royals (Ashwin’s retired-out). We keep trying different things. Have been talking about it before the season. We thought that if some situation occurs, we can use it. Was a team decision,” he said in the post-match presentation.
According to MCC Law 25.4.3, “if a batter retires for any reason other than as in 25.4.2 (retires because of illness, injury or any other unavoidable cause), the innings of that batter may be resumed only with the consent of the opposing captain. If for any reason his/her innings is not resumed, that batter is to be recorded as ‘Retired – out’.”
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