Lucknow: Experts and netizens came down heavily on Mumbai Indians (MI) after their think tank decided to retire out Tilak Varma during their encounter against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday evening.Needing 24 runs off the last seven balls in pursuit of a challenging 204, MI opted to retire Tilak, but the strategy didn’t work as they managed only 191 for five in their 20 overs, losing the game by 12 runs.Tilak, who has two T20I hundreds for India and is one of the pillars of the core MI set-up, had managed just 25 off 23 balls with two boundaries when Mitchell Santner with a career IPL strike-rate of 106 was sent in.MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene said it wasn’t nice to retire impact player Tilak Varma, but described the move as a “tactical” one due to southpaw’s inability to connect big hits during their chase against Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL game here. “These things happen in cricket. And (it was) not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point,” Jayawardene said at the post-match press conference.”I think Tilak batted well for us when we lost that wicket and that partnership with Surya and he just wanted to get going but he just couldn’t then,” Jayawardene said.”I waited till the last few overs hoping that because he (Tilak) 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 that I needed someone fresh to go as he was struggling,” he added.Captain Hardik Pandya (28 off 16 balls) smashed a six off the first ball from Avesh Khan in the final over, but the bowler restricted MI to just three runs off the remaining five deliveries, with Mitchell Santner facing just two balls.A disappointed Jayawardene reflected that they needed to be more “ruthless” in match situations to cross the line.”I think halfway point, even at the 14th over mark, we were in it, 12 balls, 14 balls out, we were par score with them…we had the game in control most of the time even after losing those two early wickets but it was just disappointing that we just couldn’t finish it,” he said.”I think it’s early season so we need to be a bit more ruthless when we’re in those kind of situations to try and finish a game off.”Responding on the decision, legendary Sunil Gavaskar said, “That was just STUPID from Hardik Pandya to retire out Tilak Varma for Santner. If you’re not taking singles, then why retire Tilak in the first place? That was just STUPID.”Calling out his former franchise, Harbhajan Singh said, “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.” 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— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 4, 2025 “Tilak Verma retired out for santner??? Make me make sense!!! Hardik struggled vs GT never was retired out! Why tilak then?,” Hanuma Vihari said in a post on X. Tilak Verma retired out for santner???Make me make sense!!!Hardik struggled vs GT never was retired out! Why tilak then?— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) April 4, 2025 Netizens too slammed the five-time champions side. A user wrote on X, “I felt for Tilak Varma — it just wasn’t his day.But retiring him out in the 19th over wasn’t just a horrible decision,it was more than an insult to him.”
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