Opinion: Rahul Tewatia's innings shows why allowing 'retiring out' is a bad idea

After Rahul Tewatia's dramatic innings for Rajasthan Royals, the current topic of discussion doing the rounds among experts is the concept of 'retiring out'. The suggestion is that if a batsman is struggling to get going on a given day, he should be given an option to voluntarily retire, and allow the next batsman in to bat.

Former cricketer and current commentator Aakash Chopra had tweeted in support of this during the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

‘Retiring Out’ should be de-stigmatised. Nothing against the batsman who’s struggling....but if his best efforts to hit aren’t working out, you get the next one in. ‘Sunk Cost fallacy’ #RRvKXIP #RR

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 27, 2020

Why this is a bad idea for the sport?

While the experts are thinking about the fast-paced nature of the game and how it needs to be entertaining, it can be harmful for the mentality of kids who are watching the game.

As young kids, we are always taught by our coaches to never give up, and try to find ways out of the difficult situation, rather than throwing in the towel and accepting that it’s not your day.

Every sportsperson will have bad days and good days. Real sporting spirit shows on days when the going gets tough, because it's easy to coast along when everything is going well. It takes true grit and mettle to keep going in the face of adversity.

Why should all innovations favour the batsmen?

The game is already loaded in favour of batsmen. Be it small-sized boundaries, lightning fast outfields, or huge bat sizes, bowlers are slowly becoming less important especially in the shorter formats.

All innovations and ideas are thought through to favour batsmen rather than the bowlers. If experts feel the necessity of 'retiring out' as an option for batsmen, in the same vein can the bowler then have an option to stop bowling after getting hit for two sixes and let someone else complete the rest of the over?

Tewatia proved why this theory can be misleading

It didn’t take long to prove that theory of 'retiring out' may not be a good option when Rahul Tewatia probably played one of the best innings in IPL history. Tewatia's knock helped Rajasthan Royals script a wonderful record-breaking win to go to the second spot in the points table.

Of the first 17 balls he faced, the left-hander could score only one boundary and played out 12 dot balls. Tewatia was struggling to hit the ball beyond the 30-yard circle at that stage. This was when the experts on air and fans on social media alike were discussing that Tewatia should be given the option of 'retiring out' and allow the next batsman in to bat.

Rahul Tewatia turned it around in the most breathtaking fashion by hitting 6 sixes off the next 8 balls he faced; 5 in one over from West Indian fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell. In the end, he finished with 53 off 31 balls and even though he wasn’t out in the middle when the winning run was scored, his freak hitting in the 18th over was good enough for the Royals to go past the line.

Dramatic comebacks like this are part of the sport. Let’s not overcomplicate things and lose out on the unpredictability of this great game.

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