Tilak Varma has become the fourth player to retire out in the IPL. The Mumbai Indians (MI) batter walked off the field with seven balls left in the match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday, after coming on as an Impact Player and scoring 25 off 23 balls in a chase of 204.
When Tilak left the field, MI needed 24 off seven balls with five wickets in hand. They couldn't cross the line, though, with LSG closing out a 12-run win.
In his post-match press conference, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene said it had been his decision to retire Tilak out.
"He just wanted to get going but he couldn't," Jayawardene said. "[We] waited till the last few overs, hoping that [he would find his rhythm], because he had 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, I just needed someone fresh to go, and he was struggling.
"These things happen in cricket. Not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point."
When Tilak walked out to bat, MI were on track at 86 for 3 after 8.1 overs in a 200-plus chase. Tilak put on 66 off 48 balls with Suryakumar Yadav for the fourth wicket, but where Suryakumar contributed 46 off 30 to the partnership, Tilak struggled for fluency as his share of 17 off 18 showed.
By the time Suryakumar fell, MI's required rate had shot up; they now needed 52 off the last 23 balls. Tilak managed to score eight off his last five balls at the crease - four of them came via an edged boundary - before he went off as MI grew increasingly desperate. Hardik Pandya, MI's captain, was at the other end when they took the decision to retire Tilak.
"I think that was obvious," Hardik told the broadcasters after the match. "We needed some hits, and he was not [able to get them]. Sometimes in cricket one of those days comes, when you really want to try but it does not happen, but the decision [speaks for] itself, why we did it."