'Devon Conway didn't even try. But even Jadeja...': CSK's 'retired out' timing question, but Clarke baffled at decision

Chennai Super Kings' decision to retire out Devon Conway in the 18th over of their chase against Punjab Kings left experts divided as the visitors in Chandigarh on Tuesday failed to make the most of the decision, falling short by 18 runs to register a fourth-successive defeat in IPL 2025. While Piyush Chawla and Wasim Jaffer reckoned Chennai got their timing wrong with the decision, former Australia captain Michael Clarke questioned its logic.

Conway brought up one of the slowest fifties this season, reaching the mark in 37 balls, where he struggled both in the powerplay (22 off 16) and the middle overs (38 off 27). With time running out and the asking rate putting more pressure on the dugout, Chennai decided to retire out Conway after the fifth ball of the 18th over and was replaced by Ravindra Jadeja.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Chawla and Jaffer agreed that Chennai lost the plot not because of the decision but because of its timing. The veteran India spinner criticised Conway's approach in the chase and his reluctance to take the risk when Shivam Dube showed his aggression through the middle overs.

"He is the kind of batter who is more technically strong and doesn't try to play in the air. We saw that in the middle overs as well when he was rolling his wrists to play the pull shot like a technical batsman. That is where I felt Chennai missed the trick, when Shivam was trying to hit those big shots, Conway didn't even try that. It felt like, at one point, he only wanted to take it deep, but then you also don't want your run rate to go out of hand," he said.

"If they wanted to do that, they should have done it two or three overs before because if you think he is not getting those big shots, you want somebody to come in, take two or three balls, and then go for it. By the time they made the decision, I felt it was too late."

Jaffer agreed with Chawla, before questioning if Conway's replacement, Jadeja, was also the right call for the situation.

"They could have done that earlier, but Jadeja was the only one they could have trusted. They needed one more batter there who could have done that, but unfortunately, they didn't. Even Jadeja has his restrictions," he said.

Clarke baffled at CSK's decision

Clarke, however, felt Chennai should have shown more patience. He believed the well-set opener could have hit sixes in the final phase of the game to take the team through.

"I didn't understand that decision, you retire a player that was on 69 and had spent that much time in the middle. I know you need sixes, but it's not like Conway can't hit sixes. That's the thing with decisions like that as a captain, it's always judged if you win or lose," he said on Star Sports.