Top 5 experts who blasted Tilak Varma retiring out in LSG vs MI IPL 2025 match ft. Mohammad Kaif

The cricket fraternity unanimously slammed Mumbai Indians (MI) for retiring out Tilak Varma during their IPL 2025 clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday (April 4).

Batting first, LSG posted a mammoth total of 203, with Mitchell Marsh (60) emerging as the top scorer. Skipper Hardik Pandya was the wrecker-in-chief for MI with a fifer.

In response, MI lost two wickets in the powerplay, but were well supported by Naman Dhir (46) and Suryakumar Yadav (67). However, Varma, who has proven his boundary-hitting abilities, could not get going. The southpaw was batting on 25 off 23, when he was retired out in the 19th over.

With 24 required off seven deliveries, Varma was swapped with Mitchell Santner. The Kiwi all-rounder could score two off as many balls, as Pandya (28*) failed to hit big shots in the last over. As a result, MI lost the game by 12 runs.

Many experts and fans believe Tilak Varma had that ability to accelerate in the last over, despite him struggling to keep up with the required run rate. On that note, let's check out the top expert reactions to Varma getting retired out against LSG.

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#1 Harbhajan Singh

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh shared his disappointment with MI's decision on his YouTube channel. Although Harbhajan admitted that Tilak Varma was struggling, he wondered whether it was right to not trust a player whom the franchise had retained. He said:

"It was quite shocking for me. Tilak Varma, who MI have retained, and the coach instructed him to leave the field because you are not able to hit balls. It was a run-a-ball kind of innings, and it was a lackluster knock according to his standards. He is known for hitting boundaries. It was looking all well with his partnership with Surya, but you should have retired him earlier." (0:17)

'Turbantor' further added that the decision could have been justified if MI would had gotten power-hitters in the line-up:

"Retiring out Tilak for Santner is beyong my understanding. If you would have got Kieron Pollard, Tim David or AB de Villiers, or any other batter who would have changed the game with his big-hitting, the move could have been deemed right. Tilak has that abiliity to even hit three consecutive sixes, and MI would have got better chance of winning with him."

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#2 Aakash Chopra

During the post-match analysis on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra opined that although Tilak Varma was not finding the fences often, the decision to retire him was wrong. He said:

"Runs weren't coming from Tilak Varma's bat. He was struggling for strike and form, and whatever else. Hardik (Pandya) came and played a few good shots, and then Tilak Varma was retired out. Whose decision was it? Was it the captain's or the team management's? I feel it was Mahela Jayawardene's." (5:03)

Chopra feels replacing a well-set Varma with Mitchell Santner wouldn't have made any difference, as the left-arm spinner isn't known to fire from ball one. He added:

"He went and had a few discussions as well, but was it an upgrade? It's not preposterous to retire someone out but you need to have someone incredible after that. You sent Mitchell Santner. He took two runs off the first ball, and Hardik didn't give him the strike after that. If you weren't going to give the strike to Mitchell Santner, you wouldn't have given it to Tilak Varma as well. So what difference would it have made?

"If they made to decision to retire out Varma, they could have done it earlier, provided that you have a batter who can fly like a rocket. If that was not the case, Tilak Varma, who had 25 odd balls had a better chance to hit boundaries."

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#3 Virender Sehwag

Former Indian batter shared his thoughts on Tilak Varma retiring out during an interaction on Cricbuzz Live. He feels if Hardik Pandya had decided to play out the last over, what was the point of replacing Varma with Mitchell Santner. He said:

“I didn’t understand why they got him to retire out. He had played 20-25 deliveries, yes his shots weren’t connecting, but it’s not like Santner did something in the two balls he faced. If the last over was going to be faced by Hardik Pandya then why retire him?” (2:00)

Sehwag wondered whether Tilak Varma would have found the fences in the two balls that Santner faced. He added:

“Who knows, on Santner’s two deliveries, maybe Tilak Varma hits a boundary. There would have been some benefit, but it’s outside my understanding. In our time this kind of thing never happened, we always wished yaar isko bahar bulao, out hoke aaja (get him off the field, get out and come back.) But we never even thought to retire out.”

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#4 Mark Boucher

Former Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher also weighed in on the franchise's controversial decision to retire out Tilak Varma. Boucher expected the youngster to accelerate in the death overs, but praised LSG bowlers for their efforts. He said:

"Tilak actually played a decent role with his partnership with Surya. You'd expect him with his talents and not to be able to, you know, up his tempo. Obviously, it just wasn't happening for him. I think they bowled really well at him." (9:11)

According to Boucher, Varma could have tried to score runs with a different strategy. But, he feels the decision to retire out Varma didn't make any impact on the match's result:

"He maybe could have taken a couple of options, moved around the crease a bit more. I mean, that would be a conversation that Polly [Kieron Pollard] will probably have with him at a later stage. But yeah, I don't think it had impact on the game."

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#5 Mohammad Kaif

Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif posted a video on X to express his thoughts on Tilak Varma's innings and MI's decision. As per Kaif, Varma was well-set to hit big shots, and had more chances of winning the game for MI. He said:

"Tilak Varma was retired out, and who came in place of him, Santner. It was a wrong decision, as Tilak Varma could have only won the game for MI. Although, Santner has hit a couple of sixes in the last few overs in the past, Tilak was well set despite not playing big shots. But, Tilak had the ability to cover-up in the last over."

Kaif further asked that if Hardik Pandya didn't trust Mitchell Santner's abilities, why would he replace Tilak Varma:

"Even Hardik Pandya didn't take a single in the third ball of the last over, as he knew Santner has could not have won the game for the side. After retiring your set batter, you are not bringing Santner into strike, so it was an overall a wrong call."