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
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.
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."
"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.
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."
