One of the rarest incidents in the history of Indian Premier League took place a few days ago during the match between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. It was the first time that a player has been Retired out in the history of IPL and it was none other than Ravichandran Ashwin. The fans have been divided in opinions after the incident took place. While some have said that it was a masterstroke by Ashwin, some have criticised it because it ‘is against the fair play of cricket’.
So what exactly is the retired out system? You must be familiar with Retired hurt. It takes place when a batsman is unable to continue due to an injury and he might return later to resume his batting but for the time being he is replaced by another batsman.
Retired out is a similar thing but unlike retired hurt where the batsman has to be injured, in retired out the batsman willingly goes back to the pavillion and that was exactly what Ravi Ashwin did in the match. When Rajasthan Royals needed a responsible partnership, Ravichandran Ashwin was the go to man and he scored 28 runs in 23 deliveries.
However he had a strike rate of 122 and RR needed to score big runs in the last few overs. Thus when 10 balls were remaining, he willing retired to bring in Riyan Parag so that he could hit some big shots.
Although his selflessness has been appreciated by most fans, some critiques have also criticised him for withholding the integrity of the game of cricket as many consider the Retired hurt system to be flawed.
Fans Criticise Ravi Ashwin for being Retired out
