IPL 2022: Might Work Sometimes, Might Not; But It Will Happen A Lot In The Coming Days - Ravichandran Ashwin On Retiring Out
Published - 13 Apr 2022, 06:20 PM
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Rajasthan Royals (RR) off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the first player in IPL history to ‘retire out’ when he did it against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday. It was a tactical move and one that paid off dividends for RR.
He made way for Riyan Parag, who ended up hitting a six. The margin of victory for RR was down to 3 runs and it’s left to the cricketing fraternity to determine whether Ashwin’s move really played a part in it.
“It might work sometimes and it might not work sometimes. These things happen constantly in football, and we haven’t cracked T20 cricket fully yet. This is a millennial sport. This is the next generation’s sport. In fact, if you see in football, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo score goals frequently. But their team’s goalkeeper should also save goals and their defenders should defend well.”
“Only then, a Messi or Ronaldo will be in the limelight. T20, as a sport, is heading towards where football has reached. Just like how they’re using substitutions, I did something similar [retiring out]. Already we’re late, but I believe this will happen a lot in the coming days. I don’t think it will be a stigma like running someone out at the non-striker’s end,” Ashwin said.
“I threw the kitchen sink at everything, but I couldn’t get the timing going” – Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin mentioned that he wanted to give himself a few balls before choosing to walk off. He tried to give it his all and upon figuring out that it wasn’t happening, he opted to ‘retire out’.
“It was just a tactical move. In fact, Riyan Parag has been batting very well and when the [K] Gowtham over [16th over] ended, I gave myself some time – five to six balls – to see whether I can hit a six or two fours. There were a few balls in the slot, I tried to hit, and mistimed a bit.”
“I threw the kitchen sink at everything, but I couldn’t get the timing going. Someone like Riyan Parag was in the shed and there were only ten balls remaining. If he comes and hits even two sixes, we could get a good score. It was a tactical decision,” Ashwin added.
