Second week of IPL-18: MI’s Tilak Varma retired out; Pant fails yet again

MI’s Tilak Varma retired out against LSG

In a rare move, Mumbai Indians (MI) retired out Tilak Varma during their 204-run chase against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday. The southpaw came in as an Impact sub after MI were comfortably placed at 86-3 in 8.1 overs following the fall of the third wicket. With MI requiring 24 off seven balls, Tilak, who was struggling on 25 off 23 balls, was replaced by all-rounder Mitchell Santner during the fifth ball of the penultimate over. The move, however, didn’t go as planned, as the five-time champions lost the game by 12 runs. This is just the fourth time that a batter is being retired out in the IPL. Ravichandran Ashwin, playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR), was the first player to be retired out, against LSG in Wankhede in 2022. In the following season, Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) Atharva Taide and Gujarat Titans’ (GT) Sai Sudharsan were retired out against Delhi Capitals (DC) and MI in Dharamsala and Ahmedabad respectively.

Rishabh Pant, IPL’s most expensive player, fails to deliver 

IPL’s most expensive buy Rishabh Pant — purchased by LSG for Rs 27 crore in the 2025 players’ auction — has failed to live up to expectations so far in all four matches this season. The wicketkeeper-batter has managed just 19 runs in four matches at a poor average of 4.75. The southpaw was dismissed for a six-ball duck against his former team DC. Pant scored a run-a-ball 15 during LSG’s opening win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, while he managed just two off five balls versus Punjab. Pant was expected to return to form after flop shows in three consecutive matches, but the LSG skipper disappointed yet again, this time with two off six balls against MI. He, however, had a decent outing as captain, winning two of four matches.

Bowling figures by an Indian on debut 

MI are known for successfully scouting upcoming talents and this season is no different. Wrist-spinner Vignesh Puthur (3-32) and left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar (4-24) justified the management’s faith by delivering impressive performances on debut — against Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. In fact, Ashwani went a step further by registering the best bowling figures by an Indian on his IPL debut. Ashwani`s four scalps included key KKR wickets. His maiden wicket was skipper Ajinkya Rahane. The pacer from Punjab then dismissed middle-order batters Rinku Singh and Manish Pandey, before removing the big-hitting Andre Russell. Ashwani’s spell ensured MI bowled out KKR for a mere 116 in 16.2 overs, thus registering their first win of the season by eight wickets and with 43 balls to spare at the Wankhede.

Poor show by SRH 

SRH batters created fear among bowlers after they went past the 200-run mark six times last year. The fear grew after they hammered 286-6 against RR in their opening encounter. However, since then, the 2016 champions have seen a massive downfall, with the batters collapsing like a pack of cards — restricted to 190-9 on a good batting surface in Hyderabad by LSG, and then dismissed for 163 and 120 against DC and KKR respectively. The 80-run loss against KKR also marked their biggest defeat margin ever in the IPL, pushing them to last place in the points table with just one win and three losses in four matches. 

High-scoring contests returns

Fans assumed most of the IPL-18 matches would be all about fours and sixes after the first five matches witnessed 200-plus team totals in six innings, including a record-breaking 286-6 by SRH at home. However, the next 10 games saw runs drying up, with the teams being restricted below 200. Two innings even saw teams getting bowled out for 120 or less. But the big scores seem to be back again, with the last two games once again touching the 200-run mark. On Thursday, KKR scored a match-winning 200-6 against SRH, while LSG amassed 203-8 on Friday. While fans would have enjoyed the battle between the bat and ball, there will be many craving a high-scoring contest.