“Doesn’t make sense to me” - Former cricketers lash out at Mumbai Indians for bringing in Mitchell Santner for Tilak Varma

In an interesting turn of events, Tilak Varma was asked to retire out by Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya in the penultimate over of the chase against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 16th match of the IPL 2025 season at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, April 4.

Advertisment

With this, Tilak Varma emerged as the fourth player in IPL history to retire. He was batting at 25 runs off 23 balls when he walked back to the pavilion with MI needing 24 runs off the final seven balls.

After the defeat to LSG by 12 runs, MI skipper Hardik Pandya took the full responsibility for the defeat. “I take full ownership. It was obvious (on Tilak being retired out). We needed some hits. In cricket, some of those days come. When you try but it doesn’t come off," Hardik said.

Moreover, former Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and Sreevats Goswami took to X (formerly Twitter) to lash out at the team management and the skipper for this unexciting move.

“Don’t understand all this fuss about Tilak Verma retiring out. He retired at 18.5 overs which meant Santner had only one ball to face . Even if Tilak faced that , Hardik would have still backed himself to play all 6 balls in the last over. At 19.3 , 14 needed to win when he didn't choose to run, which I am sure even if it was Tilak at the other end he wouldn’t have taken the run . Hardik’s ups is he backs himself , just it doesn't come off today. Tomorrow it will. That’s my take,” Sreevats Goswami tweeted.

“Tilak Verma retired and Santner coming in? Doesn’t make sense to me. What do you guys think?” Irfan Pathan posted.

“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,” Harbhajan Singh stated on X.

Advertisment

Stay updated with the latest cricket news, match insights, and exclusive updates at Sky247 India and download the Sky247 app to start betting today!