Veteran Rajasthan Royals (RR) cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin baffled everyone when he retired himself out during their game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday. Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson has opened up on the decision, saying that they had thought about it prior to the season.
Ashwin stunned everyone as he walked off after two balls of the 19th over, having scored 28 runs off 23 balls. The move was intended to allow Riyan Parag to launch some big blows and help the Rajasthan franchise finish on a high. Parag ended up scoring eight off four balls to propel RR to a score of 165.
A crucial 28 off 23 and just 20 from his 4 overs with the wet ball.
Meet our team man, Ravi Ash. 💗 #RoyalsFamily | #दिलसेरॉयल | #RRvLSG pic.twitter.com/Rvz86JQgpa
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 11, 2022
While the decision might have left everyone stunned, but the Rajasthan Royals camp was not baffled and saw it coming. Sanju Samson revealed the same at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The 28-year-old said:
“It’s about being Rajasthan Royals – we keep on doing something different (laughs). We talked about it before the season and thought that if a situation occurs, why not use it.”
While it has happed a couple of times in international cricketer, Ravichandran Ashwin became the first batter in IPL to get retired out. Ashwin was well within his rights to get himself out in this manner. The law states:
“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 batman is marked as ‘retired out’ and this is considered a dismissal for the purposes of calculating a batting average.”
The move did come in handy as those extra few runs in the last over made all the difference as Lucknow ended up falling three runs short of the Rajasthan Royals’ score.
Rajasthan coach Kumara Sangakkara said the decision was a combination of factors discussed between the player and the team management. During the post-match presentation ceremony, the for Sri Lankan captain said:
“It was a combination of both [Ashwin and RR management]. 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.”
Rajasthan Royals derail Lucknow Super Giants in a thrilling clash
"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒆." pic.twitter.com/2u4q4jyl85
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 10, 2022
Batting first, Rajasthan Royals posted 165 runs on the board, riding on Shimron Hetmyer‘s sheer brilliance with the ball. After a reprieve, the West Indian batter made the Lucknow bowlers pay, accumulating 39 runs in the final 11 balls to finish on a high.
Wankhede is known for being difficult ground to defend. But RR have done it, and they’ve done it thanks to an incredible bowling display. It all started with Trent Boult’s first over as he ripped out a couple of poles with his first two balls. Two devastating inswingers to take out Rahul and Gowtham. Yuzvendra Chahal then turned it on with his leg-breaks to leave LSG down and out.
With this victory, Rajasthan Royals have toppled Kolkata Knight Riders to be at the top spot with six points in four matches.
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