Whose decision was it to retire Tilak Varma during MI’s chase against LSG? ‘Wasn’t nice but I had to do it’
Jayawardene admitted that it was his decision, not Hardik Pandya's, to retire Tilak, but he also praised the left-handed batter for stabilising the innings.
Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene revealed that he made the bold decision to retire Tilak Varma in the penultimate over during the chase against Lucknow Super Giants. Tilak had an underwhelming day with the bat when Mumbai Indians were chasing a 204-run target against LSG in Lucknow. The left-handed batter, who came in as an impact player for MI, struggled to get going and scored 25 runs off 23 balls, which included a couple of boundaries, as he failed to up the ante in the chase.
Mumbai Indians needed 24 runs off the last seven balls, and Tilak Varma returned back to the pavilion as he strategically retired himself out to make way for Mitchell Santner. The five-time champions eventually lost the match by 12 runs as Santner only got to face two balls.
Jayawardene admitted that it was his decision, not skipper Hardik Pandya's, to retire Tilak, but he also praised the left-handed batter for stabilising the innings with Suryakumar Yadav in the middle overs.
"I think Tilak batted well for us when we lost that wicket and that partnership with Surya and he just wanted to get going but he just couldn't then," Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference.
The head coach explained why he made the call and revealed that he did give Tilak time and waited until the penultimate over, but when he saw him struggling to hit big shots, bringing in a new batter was the need of the hour.
"I waited till the last few overs hoping that because he 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," he added.
‘Not nice to take Tilak out but…’
With 22 required off the final over, Hardik did have MI some hopes with a six off the first ball of Avesh Khan, but the LSG pacer bounced back well as he gave away just three runs off the next five balls. Santner didn't get much balls to make an impact with the bat as he faced the last balls of the penultimate and the final overs of the chase.
The MI head coach further called it a tactical decision to get the desired result in their favour.
"When these things happen in cricket and not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point," he added.
