Ashwin becomes first player to be 'retired out' in IPL
Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin made a historic call in the match against Lucknow Super Giants at Wankhede on Sunday. He became the first player to be technically retired out in the IPL. Coming in to bat at number six, Ashwin added 28 off 23 deliveries. Later, Ashwin rushed toward the pavilion on the second ball of the 19th over. Here are further details.
Which other players have retired out in the past?
As per ESPNCricinfo, Shahid Afridi, Bhutan's Sonam Tobgay, and Cumilla Warriors' Sunzamul Islam are the others to have retired out in the shortest format. Afridi took the call during a tour match versus Northants in 2010. Tobgay had himself retired out against the Maldives in a T20I in 2019. Sunzamul had opted for the decision versus Chattogram Challengers in BPL 2019.
Ashwin has a reputation of taking cunning on-field decisions
This is not the first time Ashwin has made headlines for his cunning on-field tactics in IPL. Back in 2019, then PBKS skipper Ashwin had 'mankaded' (running out the non-striker) RR batter Jos Buttler. It was the first incident in the IPL. It was only in March 2022 that MCC changed it from 'unfair play' to 'run-out' as per their latest rules.
Was it legal for Ashwin to retire out?
As per the law stated by the International Cricket Council (ICC), "A batsman retires out if he retires without the umpire's permission and does not have the permission of the opposing captain to resume his innings. If such a return does not occur, the batsman is marked as 'retired out' and this is considered a dismissal for the purposes of calculating a batting average."
Kumar Sangakkara comments on Ashwin being retired out
RR's head coach Kumar Sangakkara said that both team management and Ashwin had decided to retire out the latter. "It was a combination of both. It was the right time to do that, Ashwin himself was asking from the field as well, and we had discussed it just before that, as to what we would do," said Sangakkara during the post-match conference.
Decoding Ashwin's numbers in IPL
The skillful off-spinner has claimed just one wicket this season across four appearances. However, he has been quite economical in his outings, maintaining an economy rate of 6.88. His figures in the tournament underway read 0/21, 1/30, 0/39, and 0/20. To date, he has picked 146 wickets in 171 matches at 28.36.
A look at the points table
Rajasthan Royals now sit atop the points table with three wins and one loss in four matches. They have collected six points and enjoy a Net Run Rate (NRR) of +0.951. Their only loss this season was against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Wankhede ahead of this fixture versus LSG. RR next face Gujarat Titans on Thursday (April 14).
