“As if a Pollard was walking in or something” - Former all-rounder blasts decision to retire out Tilak Varma in LSG vs MI IPL 2025 match

Former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar failed to understand the Mumbai Indians' (MI) logic behind recalling Tilak Varma during the crunch stages of the run chase against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The left-handed batter became the fourth player in Indian Premier League (IPL) history to retire out, as MI slumped to a 12-run loss at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday, April 4.

Chasing 204, Tilak Varma was tottering at 25 runs off 23 deliveries before MI pulled the trigger. The youngster made way for Mitchell Santner, with seven deliveries left in the contest.

MI were tasked with scoring 22 runs off the final over to record their second successive win in IPL 2025. A brilliant penultimate over by Shardul Thakur tilted the game in LSG's favor, but Hardik Pandya kept the visitors in the hunt with a six off the first ball of the final over.

However, the skipper denied a single midway through the over to reduce the equation to 14 runs required off three deliveries. Avesh Khan was able to close out the contest with a couple of dot balls.

Sanjay Bangar remarked that there was no point in sending out Mitchell Santner as he was not an accomplished hitter who could make up for Tilak Varma's blemish.

"I don't really think it impacted the game in any way. Had he been retired slightly earlier that could have had an effect of how much had to be gotten in the last over. Santner got what? Two balls to face? Maybe Tilak would have got a couple of those particular deliveries. So, it was not as if a Pollard was walking in or something else," Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo.

"What you are doing is that you clearly are sort of putting down one of your top players, and Tilak would be devastated to do that," he added.

Tilak Varma had also struggled in MI's run chase attempt against the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium on March 29. He scored 39 runs off 36 deliveries as MI slumped to a 36-run loss while chasing 197.

"I just felt that at the end, I just needed someone fresh to go" - MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene on the decision to retire out Tilak Varma against LSG in IPL 2025

MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene explained the reasoning behind taking off Tilak Varma towards the end of the run chase. The left-handed batter had come in as the Impact Player at No. 5 and even hit Ravi Bishnoi for a boundary early into his innings, but never got going to ease the required run rate.

"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. 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," Jayawardene said during the post-match press conference (via Indian Express).

MI next face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, April 7.