Former Indian all-rounder Sanjay Bangar questioned the decision of the Mumbai Indians (MI) to retire in their pursuit of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2025 Clash. The former cricketer said the move had little effect on the outcome of the game as Mitchell Santner faced only two goals.

Tilak Varma defeated Lucknow Super Giants’ first retired player in the IPL season at the Mumbai Indians on April 4 at the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. The decision to replace him with Mitchell Santner sparked debate and left many questioning the team’s tactical approach.

Tilak Varma will suffer catastrophic practices – Sanjay Bangar

Sanjay Bangar said of Espncricinfo that introducing Mitchell Santner is not known for batting, but there is no real advantage. Bangar added that the move could hurt Varma’s confidence.

“I really don’t think that would affect the game in any way. If he retired earlier, that could have a final effect. What did Santner get? What do you want to face with two balls? Maybe Tilak gets some special delivery. So it seems like there is no Pollard walking into something else,” Bangar said.

He added: “What you are doing is that you are obviously putting down a top player and Tilak will suffer a devastating approach.”

Tilak Varma retires after struggling to speed up

In the chase of 204, Tilak Varma struggled 25 goals on 25 goals, with only seven remaining in the innings to retire. Mitchell Santner was sent to the Crest to speed up the score and ran two runs on the penultimate penultimate ball.

Mumbai needs to score 22 strokes from the final to get a back-to-back victory in IPL 2025. ShardulThakur’s tightness increasingly turned to Lucknow Super Giants, but Hardik Pandya beat Hope to beat six by putting the final’s first defeat.

However, he decided to deny that midway through Left Mumbai, 14 of the last three balls were needed. Avesh Khan then passed two penalty kicks to win 12 wins for LSG.

He might have a few options to take – Mark Boucher

Former Mumbai Indian head coach Mark Boucher said Tilak Varma helped stabilize the situation through a stable partnership with Suryakumar Yadav.

But, Boucher admits Tilak is working hard to speed up. He added that the decision did not affect the outcome of the game.

“Tilak actually played a decent role in his partnership with Surya. You wish his talent wasn’t capable of improving his pace. Obviously, that didn’t happen to him. I think they did a great job in him.”

He added: “He might take several options to move further on the crease. I mean, this is a conversation Polly might have with him in the future. But yes, I don’t think it has any effect on the game.”

Tilak Varma also had a tough match against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on March 29. The lefty scored 39 runs from 36 goals in MI’s 197 chases, and the team lost 36 times.

The Mumbai Indians will hope to rebound in their next match against Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) at Wankhede Stadium on Monday, April 7.

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