Courtesy: BCCI/IPL/Google
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has called out Mumbai Indians’ (MI) decision to retire out Tilak Varma against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match. Chasing the score of 204 runs, Mumbai lost their openers Will Jacks and Ryan Rickleton early but Naman Dhir (46 off 24) and Suryakumar Yadav (67 off 43) played swift innings to keep Mumbai alive in the chase. After the dismissals of both batters, the responsibility was passed to Tilak and captain Hardik Pandya. Tilak was brought into the game as an Impact Player (IP). Hardik looked in fine touch with his bat but Tilak struggled to time the ball and played a slow knock of 25 after consuming 23 deliveries.
With 24 required off seven, Varma was retired out and Santer walked into the middle in the penultimate over to join Hardik. In the end, Mumbai fell 12 runs short and Varma’s struggle led Mumbai to their third loss in the competition. MI’s decision to retire out Tilak didn’t go well with former MI skipper Harbhajan. The former spinner took to X and wrote, “Retiring Tilak for Santer was a mistake in my opinion. Is Santner a better hitter than Tilak ? If it was for Pollard or some other accomplished hitter I would have understood . But Don’t agree with this. Come on @mipaltan.”
MI demoted to the seventh spot in IPL 2025 points tally
The loss against LSG has relegated MI to the seventh spot with just one win and three losses. After this defeat, Mumbai will travel to their homeland to host Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on April 7. RCB are holding the third spot with a couple of wins and a loss against Gujarat Titans (GT).
It will be interesting to witness whether veteran Rohit Sharma will be a part of MI’s playing XI in the upcoming challenge against RCB. Against Lucknow, Rohit couldn’t make it to the 11-member squad. Skipper Pandya said the veteran was hit on his knee during the practice.
