“Ashwin sacrificing his own wicket was game awareness”

By Bipin Dani

India’s right-arm off-spinner Ravichandran  Ashwin became the first batter to be tactically retired out in the IPL, by Rajasthan Royals against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday evening.

Ashwin was batting at no. 6 but retired himself out in the 19th over when his individual score was 28 and the team total was 135 runs) to allow newcomer Riyan Parag to accelerate the score.

“It was purely a tactical move (to allow the newcomer to expedite the score”, believes Team India’s former manager Sunil Subramanium, who incidentally was Ashwin’s childhood coach.

“It was an excellent rule and game awareness by Ashwin and his Rajasthan Royals team management”.

“I had always been wondering why teams don’t use this move more often in 20-over matches”.

Sunil Subramanium, however, sees no likelihood of such instances happening in the larger formats (ODIs and Tests).

“It won’t be effective. The more the duration of a game, the less effective it would be”.

Ashwin’s father, Ravinchandran, while watching the match on TV was “surprised”.

“Indeed, I was surprised when I saw Ashwin returning without being out or injured. However, only after listening to the commentary, I realized that he has decided to sacrifice his wicket”.

The father, however, has welcomed the retiring tactic. “Brain work has worked in this move. It was a good decision and tactical move by my son and his team management. I am proud of it”, the father added.

Explaining the law of retiring, Jonny Singer, the MCC’s Laws of Cricket Advisor says, “25.4.1 A batter may retire at any time during his/her innings when the ball is dead. The umpires, before allowing play to proceed, shall be informed of the reason for a batter retiring.

However, he adds,”25.4.3 If a batter retires for any reason other than as in 25.4.2 (illness, injury or any other unavoidable cause), the innings of that batter may be resumed only with the consent of the opposing captain. If for any reason his/her innings is not resumed, that batter is to be recorded as ‘Retired – out’.

“The relevant things to note are that Ashwin clearly did not meet the criteria for 25.4.2, so he would not have been permitted to return without permission of the opposing captain. Retiring out is permitted under the Laws”, the Advisor concluded.