'If It Was For Pollard Or...': Harbhajan Singh Slams MI For Retiring Out Tilak Varma During IPL 2025 Clash vs LSG
Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh questioned the Mumbai Indians for retiring out Tilak Varma in the IPL 2025 clash against the Lucknow Super Giants on Friday at the Ekana International Stadium. Harbhajan took to X, claiming that retiring the left-handed batter for someone like Mitchell Santner was a mistake as the New Zealand is no Kieron Pollard.
The incident occurred in the second-last over of the innings as the left-handed batter found it tough going in the middle despite establishing himself as one of the cleanest strikers of the ball. With the youngster at 25 off 23 balls and struggling to find the boundary in the frequency the five-time champions required, he was retired out and Mitchell Santner was brought in.
The five-time champions still ended up losing the game by 12 runs. Meanwhile, Harbhajan wrote on X:
"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."
"Not nice to take him out but I had to do that" - Mahela Jayawardene explains decision to retire out Tilak Varma
At the post-game presser, Jayawardene said they gave the southpaw time to find his rhythm and he had to do what he did to make the team win the game. The former Sri Lankan coach said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
"He just wanted to get going but he couldn't. [We] waited till the last few overs, hoping that [he would find his rhythm], because he had spent some time there so he should have been able to get that hit out of the way, but I just felt that at the end, I just needed someone fresh to go, and he was struggling. These things happen in cricket. Not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point."
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