"I just needed someone fresh to go in": Jayawardene on retiring out Tilak Varma

Whose decision was it to replace a set batter with a bowling all-rounder in the dying moments of the match? More than that, was it justified? It is an issue that is being hotly discussed in the media and by cricket experts. From the outcome of the game, it was surely an ill-thought-out move. Mumbai Indians head coach, Mahela Jayawardene, at the post-match press conference revealed that it was his decision to ask Tilak Varma to retire for his inability to produce big shots when the asking rate was climbing during their IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday night. 

No difference to outcome

A full-house at the Ekana Stadium was left stunned as many could not understand what was happening when a set batter left the field without getting out or being injured and a new man walked in to replace him. The move, however, did not make a difference to the outcome as it was already an uphill task when Tilak was recalled with 24 runs needed for a win off just seven deliveries. MI eventually lost by 12 runs.

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Mahela Jayawardene. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Jayawardene said that he decided to retire out Varma when the batter could not get the big hits that were required at that stage. “I think Tilak batted well for us in partnership with Surya, and we were going well until we lost Surya`s [Suryakumar Yadav] wicket. After that, he [Tilak] just wanted to get going but couldn’t. I waited till the last few overs, hoping that because he had spent some time there, he should have been able to get that [big] hit out of the way. But I just felt at the end, I just needed someone fresh to go in as he was struggling,” he said, clarifying the issue that had perplexed the fans and experts alike.  “When these things happen in cricket, it`s not nice [to take him out], but I had to do that, [as] it was a tactical decision [in the team`s interest] at that point,” he added.

The match was in the balance when Tilak walked out in the ninth over at 86 for three. While Surya was shoring up the run-rate, Tilak failed to launch the big hits and was cruising along at a run-a-ball. However, Surya’s dismissal in the 17th over proved to be the turning point of the game, following which Tilak could not raise the tempo and was asked to return to the pavilion. The move, however, did not get the desired result as skipper Hardik Pandya and Mitchell Santner failed to close out the game.

Impressive in T20Is for India

Rather than the late withdrawal, the better option would have been to instruct Tilak to go hell for leather much earlier. The left-hander has an excellent record for India in T20I, having scored 749 runs at a healthy average of 49.43 and an excellent strike-rate of 155, with two centuries in successive matches (107* in 97 balls and 120* in 69) against South Africa at Centurion and Johannesburg in November last year. But that fluency has deserted him in his few IPL matches this season. He made small contributions of 31 off 25 balls v CSK, 39 off 36 v GT and 25 off 23 v LSG, but all three have come in a losing cause.

Interestingly, there were three previous instances where a batsman had been recalled mid-way through his innings in an IPL match, and these too did not get the desired result.