Ravichandran Ashwin becomes first batter to be tactically retired out in IPL

Ravichandran Ashwin became the first batter in Indian Premier League history to tactically retire out on Sunday during Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) IPL 2022 fixture against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Coming to bat at no. 6, Ashwin walked off to allow Riyan Parag to join and bat with Shimron Hetmyer in the middle. Parag ended up scoring only eight runs off four balls (including a six) as RR posted 165 for six in 20 overs, setting a target of 166 runs. Hetmyer meanwhile, smacked an unbeaten knock of 59 runs off 36 balls, hammering a four, six maximums.

Former West Indies cricketer Ian Raphael Bishop reacted to the incident and called it “fascinating T20 tactics”.

He tweeted, “Ashwin retired out is fascinating T20 tactics. T20 is causing us to rethink the way we conceive the game of in the 21st century.”