The Tilak Varma retired-out dilemma

The headlines once again found Tilak Varma in the IPL and not for the reasons he would have hoped. A year on from being publicly called out by Hardik Pandya for lacking intent in a tight defeat against Delhi Capitals, the Mumbai Indians batter was at the centre of another controversial moment - this time involving a mid-innings substitution.

In MI's narrow 12-run defeat to Lucknow Super Giants, Varma was 'retired out' after a sluggish 25 off 23 balls. With 24 runs needed off the final seven deliveries, coach Mahela Jayawardene made a bold, football-style tactical call, sending in Mitchell Santner in his place.

"I just felt that at the end, I needed someone fresh to go. He was struggling...It wasn't nice to take him out but I had to do that," Jayawardene explained after the game.

The move triggered strong reactions from pundits. Mohammad Kaif, Hanuma Vihari, and Harbhajan Singh all questioned the call. But the picture may be more nuanced than just form or intent.

Cricbuzz understands Varma may not have been fully fit. He had taken a hit on the palm in training the previous day and was uncertain to feature until the morning of the game. In fact, both Rohit Sharma and Varma underwent medical checks that day - Rohit, nursing a knee niggle, opted out as a precaution.

Varma was apparently confident he could handle the rigours of the match. However, during MI's chase, he appeared to struggle, and one of the factors behind Jayawardene's decision to recall him was to avoid the risk of aggravating the injury. Neither Pandya nor Jayawardene, however, spoke publicly about the injury.

"It was obvious that we needed some hits and he was not getting... in cricket, one of those days comes when you really try but it does not happen. I think the decision speaks for itself why we did it," Pandya said after the 12-run defeat.

While polarising, such tactical substitutions are not new. R Ashwin (RR, 2022), Atharva Taide (PBKS, 2023), and Sai Sudharsan (GT, 2023) have all been 'retired out' in past IPL seasons. The BCCI recently issued clarity that such players would be counted as a wicket for DLS calculations in rain-affected games.

Former RCB and New Zealand coach Mike Hesson even believes this approach will only become more common. "I think it's a requirement now to intervene as a coach sometimes. In many ways the retired out (substitute) yesterday probably happened too late where the game was pretty much gone. Could and probably should have happened an over earlier when 40 was needed off 18 balls," Mike Hesson told Cricbuzz.

"Some days you know a player will find a way to get out of it, sometimes you can see the harder a batsman tries the harder it gets. That's when you need to intervene before. A game gets away on you. Will see it happen more often I believe,"

In that sense, Varma's situation may have been less about blame and more about the brutal demands of modern T20. He remains a core part of MI's plans - a retained player over the more experienced Ishan Kishan - but this was another night where the optics overshadowed everything else.

An experienced IPL hand explains the point further. "It's in the original laws of the game. Nothing new. If someone is struggling out in the middle there is nothing wrong in retiring him. RR were the first to do it in the IPL when they called Ashwin back and replaced him with Riyan Parag, who went on to hit a six and they won by six runs."