R Ashwin became the first batter to be tactically retired out in the IPL by Rajasthan Royals against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday evening.
Promoted to No. 6 in the tenth over, presumably to allow the regular No. 6 Riyan Parag a more suitable point of entry, Ashwin walked off after two balls of the 19th over when the team's total was 135 for 4, having scored 28 runs off 23 balls.
Parag ended up scoring eight off four balls. The move pushed Royals' projected score from 152 to 159 on ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster, but thanks to a finishing kick from Shimron Hetmyer, they ended with 165.
At the time, it was not clear who had initiated the move: Ashwin or the dugout. Hetmyer told Star Sports in the mid-match interview that he had no clue about the move, which does explain the shocked expression on his face when Ashwin walked off during Avesh Khan's over. But post-match it emerged that it had been a joint on and off-field decision.
The relevant law states: "A batsman retires out if he retires without the umpire's permission and does not have the permission of the opposing captain to resume his innings. If such a return does not occur, the batman is marked as 'retired out' and this is considered a dismissal for the purposes of calculating a batting average."
It was the first tactical retired-out dismissal in the IPL, but it has occurred before [check graphic] in the format, even in international cricket. In 2019, in the South Asian Games, Bhutan's Sonam Togbay retired out at the end of the 19th over against Maldives.
This mode of dismissal has been long predicted as the future innovation in T20 cricket since the innings in T20 cricket are too short and teams want to milk every single ball, so they cannot have a less than ideal batter at a place which is meant for another set of batters, but some coaches felt it was too much of a step.
"Nah, that's part of the battle, isn't it?" Stephen Fleming had told ESPNcricinfo when asked about it. "Even if you are not hitting it well, that constant battle to come right. Some guys have started terribly and ended up with the best hundreds you can see. I like that battle.".
"That's the beauty of it, isn't it? Not let someone get away with it just because they can tap out - 'Not my day today, I am out'.
Kumar Sangakkara, the Royals head coach, said both Ashwin and the team management had had a hand in the decision to retire him out.
"It was a combination of both," said Sangakkara at his post-match press conference. "It was the right time to do that, Ashwin himself was asking from the field as well, and we had discussed it just before that, as to what we would do.".
"I believe, as the coach I probably made one wrong call. Not sending Riyan Parag ahead of Rassie van der Dussen and keeping back Rassie, hence couldn't make the most out of Riyan, but I believed Ashwin handled that situation pretty well, walking in with pressure, the way he batted to complement his team, and finally he put himself out in the end with regards to being retired out. The effort was just magnificent and then he went out there into the field and backed it with just wonderful bowling.
Royals' skipper Sanju Samson reiterated the same in the post-match presentation.
"It's about being Rajasthan Royals. We keep trying different things. We have been talking about it before the season," Samson said. "We thought that if some situation occurs, we can use it. It was a team decision."
Read also| Mandhana Breaks into Top 3 in Both ODI and T20I Rankings
Read also| BGT: Hazlewood Likely Ruled Out of Series After Scans Reveal Calf Strain
