On Sunday, the Rajasthan Royals locked horns against the Lucknow Super Giants at Wankhede Stadium. The match ended with a nail-biter of a finish, and the result was decided after the last shot of the match. Eventually, it was the Rajasthan Royals who won the match by just three runs. And it helped RR climb to the top of the table with 6 points. After the loss, LSG slipped to the fifth position after facing their second defeat this season.
After winning the toss, LSG skipper KL Rahul decided to bowl first. RR started well in the first five overs and scored 42 runs. But once Jos Buttler got out, Rajasthan lost other wickets at regular intervals. At one stage, they were struggling at 67/4 within the first 10 overs. And with not much batting left, RR sent Ravichandran Ashwin to bat at No. 6, ahead of Riyan Parag. Ashwin hit two back-to-back sixes off Krishnappa Gowtham, but apart from that, he was struggling to time the ball.
Ravichandran Ashwin becomes the first batter to be given “Retired Out”
RR made an unusual decision with a specialist batsman waiting in the dugout. On the second ball of the 19th over, Ashwin hit a ball for a single and kept running to the dressing room. Everyone on the field was taken aback when they saw him do this. Later, he was declared retired out after scoring 28 off 23 balls. It brought Riyan Parag to the crease, who hit a six in the last over and scored 8 runs off four balls. However, it ended up being a clever decision by the RR as the game margin was just three runs.
With this, Ashwin also became the first ever player to be retired out in the history of the IPL. Apart from him, three other batters have been given retired out in T20s. Other batters are Shahid Afridi for Pakistan, Sonam Tobgay for Bhutan and Sunzamul Islam for the Cumilla Warriors.
And, according to MCC Law 25.4.3, if we look at it from the perspective of cricket law, so it says that, “if a batsman retires for any reason other than illness/injury/any unavoidable cause, the innings of that batsman may be restarted only with the permission of the opposing captain. If for any reason, his/her innings is not resumed, that batsman is to be recorded as ‘Retired-out’.”