Virender Sehwag interrogates Hardik Pandya's morality after Tilak Varma's issue

Mumbai Indians' team management made a surprising decision to retire out their talented batter Tilak Varma during their away game against Lucknow Super Giants. The decision didn't work out for them as Mumbai fell short of the target in the end.

Former India cricketers Virender Sehwag and Murali Kartik expressed their shock over this decision and were unable to understand the logic behind it. Although he was struggling with his timing, Tilak Varma was set, but he was replaced by a new batter, Mitchell Santner.

Both Sehwag and Kartik were also surprised to see Hardik Pandya not give the single to Santner in the final over. While Tilak struggled with his timing, Santner too found it tough to clear the boundary.

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"Outside my understanding" - Virender Sehwag blasts MI team management

During a conversation on Cricbuzz after LSG defeated MI, Virender Sehwag expressed his surprise at Mumbai's team management's decision to retire out Tilak Varma at an important stage of the game.

Sehwag also questioned Hardik Pandya's decision not to give Santner the strike in the final over if the latter was trusted for his hitting skills over Tilak.

“I didn’t understand why they got him to retire. He had played 20-25 deliveries, yes, his shots weren’t connecting, but it’s not like (Mitchell) 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?” Sehwag wondered.

The former India opener further opened up on the thinking during his playing days and claimed that they never thought of retiring any player, even if they would ask the batter to get out in an attempt to play the big shot.

“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,” he added.

Also read: Digvesh Rathi pays the price for defiance, gets tightly slapped by BCCI after repeated offensive celebration

Murali Kartik questions the decision to retire out Tilak Varma

Murali Kartik, who was sitting in the same panel, agreed with Sehwag and questioned the logic behind sending Santner for Tilak Varma despite Hardik not trusting him in the final over.

“If you have called Santner in with the belief that he can hit the big shot, then why did Pandya not take the single in the last over? If you have retired him out and want to maintain your logic for that, then you should have given Mitchell Santner the strike,” Kartik observed.

With 14 needed off the last four balls, Hardik Pandya smashed a low full toss delivery to square leg. However, he didn't give the strike back to Mitchell Santner and instead, trusted himself to finish the game for his team.

The move didn't work out as the bowler Avesh Khan held his nerves to deny Hardik a boundary in the next two deliveries. Hardik Pandya was visibly frustrated as he was unable to take his team past the finish line despite staying unbeaten at the crease.

Why was Tilak Varma retired out?

Tilak Varma came in to bat at No. 5 after MI had just lost Naman Dhir for a well-made 46. However, Tilak just couldn't find his timing and was unable to move on to the next gear.

The left-hander scored just 25 off 23 balls with 2 fours to his name, but his team needed more from him. After the match, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene defended the decision by claiming that his team was looking for a fresh batter at the crease to replace Tilak.

Also Read: Watch: Tilak Varma's dream run ends as Adil Rashid wrecks his stumps with a ripper