IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians are facing backlash after a controversial tactical decision on Friday 2023 when they faced Lucknow Super Giants. In the 19th over of a nerve-wracking run chase, MI sent Mitchell Santner in, having retired out their batter Tilak Verma. The ploy backfired, with Santner doing nothing and the team coming up short.
Verma had made 25 from 23 balls, all of them driven through the field in two fours, but was clearly unable to find a rhythm toward the final overs. But the decision to remove him and replace him with Santner — a man better known for spin than for power-hitting — stunned fans and experts alike. Had a real finisher come on instead, they argue, it might have been a different story.
Former cricketers let their emotions flow. On social media, Harbhajan Singh lashed out at the move, saying:
Tilak Verma retired out for santner???
— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) April 4, 2025
Make me make sense!!!
Hardik struggled vs GT never was retired out! Why tilak then?
“Retiring out Tilak for Santner was wrong. Is Santner a better batsman than Tilak? If it was Pollard or someone with finishing power, I’d understand. But not this. Come on, Mumbai Indians.”
The frustration was echoed by Hanuma Vihari and Irfan Pathan. In a post that appeared to take aim at skipper Hardik Pandya, Vihari wrote:
Tilak Verma retired out for santner???
— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) April 4, 2025
Make me make sense!!!
Hardik struggled vs GT never was retired out! Why tilak then?
“Retired out Tilak Verma for Santner? I don’t understand this! What Hardik did not do against GT – retire out! Then why Tilak?”
And that earlier match against Gujarat Titans provides further fuel to the fire. Hardik made 11 off 17 balls and Verma 39 — again at a rather pedestrian clip — but they weren’t dragged out. The major actors in MI should’ve offered another vote of confidence to Verma this time too — given that he possesses the range of shots Santner was sorely lacking.
This isn’t the first time under Hardik’s captaincy in which a player has been retired out, and fans are beginning to wonder what the thinking is behind these late game shakeups.
And whether this was a one-off error or the sign of a more profound tactical ineptitude, one thing is crystal clear — the move would not be forgiven by fans or the game’s old masters.
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