Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene described the decision to retire out Tilak Varma during their clash against Lucknow Super Giants as a 'tactical' move, aimed at injecting fresh energy into the chase as the required run rate began to spiral out of reach.

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Chasing a target of 204, MI's innings was a rollercoaster, featuring bursts of dominance before Lucknow’s disciplined bowling brought the game to a nail-biting finish. With 29 runs needed off the final 12 balls, Tilak Varma was expected to deliver some late fireworks. However, after facing five dot balls in Shardul Thakur’s penultimate over, the MI think tank decided to retire him out. Tilak walked back having scored 25 off 23 balls with just two boundaries, making way for Mitchell Santner in a bold move that drew mixed reactions from the cricketing world.

At the post-match press conference, Jayawardene explained the reasoning behind the unusual call. “Tilak did well early on when we lost that third wicket and built a solid partnership with Surya. He was trying to accelerate but couldn’t get going. Ideally, having spent time in the middle, he should have found that big hit. But with the asking rate climbing rapidly, I felt we needed someone fresh to take charge. It wasn’t an easy call, but it was purely tactical,” he said.

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In the tense final moments, skipper Hardik Pandya took it upon himself to drag MI closer to the target. He smashed a powerful six over deep extra cover, reducing the target to 14 runs from four balls. Refusing to take a single to rotate strike, Hardik stood his ground — but couldn’t quite script the comeback as MI fell 12 runs short. Lucknow Super Giants celebrated a hard-fought victory, their bowlers having held their nerve in the death overs.

'Hardik used his experience brilliantly'

While Hardik couldn’t deliver with the bat in the chase, he had already left a massive imprint on the game with the ball. He claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in T20 cricket and etched his name in IPL history as the first captain to achieve that feat. His 5/36 spell included the prized wickets of Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant, and David Miller. He returned to bowl the final over of the LSG innings and cleaned up tailender Akash Deep to cap off a sensational performance.

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Jayawardene praised Hardik’s tactical acumen with the ball. “He used his experience brilliantly. He realised the pitch demanded pace off and shorter lengths — something we probably should’ve done earlier during the powerplay. But he adapted quickly, pulled things back, and gave us a solid shot at chasing the target.”

(With inputs from agencies)