World
India
Mumbai Indians’ decision to retire out Tilak Varma in a crucial moment of their IPL 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants has raised plenty of eyebrows.
It wasn’t just fans scratching their heads—India cricketer Hanuma Vihari also weighed in, questioning the logic behind the move, especially when Hardik Pandya was kept on the crease in a similar situation earlier this season.
Tilak Verma retired out for santner???
Make me make sense!!!
Hardik struggled vs GT never was retired out! Why tilak then?— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) April 4, 2025
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Strategic or Strange? Debate Erupts Over MI’s Mid-Innings Call
During the 19th over of their chase at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Tilak Varma was surprisingly pulled out of the middle despite scoring 25 off 23 balls, including two boundaries.
At that point, Mumbai Indians still had six wickets in hand and needed 24 runs from just seven balls.
Vihari compared the situation to MI’s earlier game against Gujarat Titans, where Hardik Pandya was visibly struggling but wasn’t retired out.
Tilak’s substitution for Mitchell Santner—a player more known for his bowling—sparked even more confusion.
MI eventually fell short, ending their innings at 191/5 in pursuit of 204, suffering their third loss of the campaign.
Jayawardene Defends the Call, But Critics Are Unimpressed
Mumbai head coach Mahela Jayawardene later justified the controversial move in the post-match press conference.
“He (Tilak) just wanted to get going but he couldn’t. (We) waited till the last few overs, hoping that 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,” Jayawardene explained.
Despite Jayawardene’s reasoning, several former players voiced their disapproval on social media.
Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Sreevats Goswami all criticized the decision, adding fuel to the ongoing debate.
Was retiring Tilak for Santner a Mistake?#ipl #mumbaiindians pic.twitter.com/akwBEcNdLX
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 4, 2025
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
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 4, 2025
Tilak Verma retired out n Santner coming in? Doesn’t make sense to me. What do you guys think?
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 4, 2025
Adding to MI’s woes, Rohit Sharma sat out of the match after taking a knock to his knee during warm-ups—a fresh injury concern for the team.
MI’s only win this season came at home against Kolkata Knight Riders. They’ll look to bounce back when they face Royal Challengers Bengaluru next at the Wankhede Stadium.
ALSO READ: Watch: Shocking! Imam-Ul-Haq’s Jaw Broken In Freak Accident, Rushed To Hospital In Ambulance
