Tilak Varma on Friday became just the fourth batter to be retired out in an Indian Premier League innings during Mumbai Indians’ (MI) pursuit against Lucknow Super Giants, and his head coach Mahela Jayawardene called the decision an ‘unfortunate but tactical’ requirement.
Tilak’s 23-ball 25 was off the pace as MI tried to down 204 runs, the second-highest target set at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. He played second fiddle during Suryakumar Yadav’s 43-ball 67 but could not take over the wheel once the senior batter departed.
“Tilak batted well for us when we lost that [third] wicket, and [built] that partnership with Surya. He wanted to get going but just couldn’t. He waited till the last few overs hoping; because you spent some time, you should have been able to get that hit out of the way. But I felt that in the end we just needed someone fresh to have a go when he was struggling.
“These things happen in cricket and it was not nice to take him out, but I had to do that. That was a tactical decision at that point,” Jayawardene told the press after the contest.
The decision did little to impact the game. Mitchell Santner could face just two deliveries off which he scored two runs. MI needed 22 runs to win off the final over and was breathing down LSG’s neck when Hardik Pandya picked a maximum off the first ball. But Avesh Khan nailed his yorkers on the next five attempts to secure his team a 12-run win, its first of the season at home.
Jayawardene admitted his side conceded the match from a winning position and said a bit more intent could have ensured it ended on the right side of the result.
“I think at the halfway point, even at the 14th-over mark, we were in it. With 12-14 balls out, we were at par with what they had scored as well. Yes, [LSG] had one big over at the end, but we had the game in control most of the time even after losing those two early wickets.
“It’s just disappointing that we couldn’t finish it. I think it’s early season, so we need to be more ruthless when we’re in those kinds of situations to try and finish a game off,” Jayawardene said.
Suryakumar’s fifty was not the only effort in vain for MI. In the first innings, Hardik became the first captain to pick a five-wicket haul in the IPL and was crucial in Mumbai Indians restricting the home team to 203 for eight.
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Hardik’s off-cutter proved his most potent weapon, getting him four of the five wickets on the night.
“He’s got that adaptability and that’s why he’s one of the better all-rounders going around. With the experience that he has, he realized this is what he probably needed to do. We just needed to take a bit of the pace off, which we should have done in the PowerPlay as well.
“He definitely pulled the game back for us and gave us a pretty decent chance of chasing this total,” Jayawardene said.
For Mumbai Indians, the signs were ominous even before the match got underway with veteran Rohit Sharma being ruled out due to a knee injury.
Giving more details about the injury, Jayawardene said, “Ro got a hit on his knee in the IT [Iliotibial] band, and he tried to bat yesterday. He couldn’t put any weight on it. So, again he came [on Friday] and did a fitness test to try. It was discomfort for him to bat, put weight on that. So that’s why we precautioned, we thought, [let’s] give him a few more days to try and get through that.”
MI’s reverse was its third on the road this season. It lost to Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans earlier and its winless streak away from the Wankhede Stadium now stands at seven games.
The Indians play three of their next four matches at home and Jayawardene said his team’s troubles at away venues make those games must-win.
“I think the first two games, we did not have the rhythm. I think in Chennai and Ahmedabad, we got outplayed. But here, we were back to doing our best. I think our bowling needs a little bit of fine-tuning, and, obviously, batting needs to execute and finish a game. When you come on the road you are put out these challenges and that’s what good teams do.
“Now, yes, it’s probably written for us to make sure that we go out and play good cricket at home and win those matches. The tournament is still pretty open, I mean every team is beating each other. We have got some tough matches ahead of us against teams which are above us in the table, so that gives us an opportunity to try and take some points out of that,” he said.