Lucknow:

R Ashwin, Atharva Taide and Sai Sudharsan are the other players to be retired in IPL history.

Tilak left the field with MI needing 24 runs from seven deliveries and five wickets in hand. However, they were unable to cross the finish line in the end and lost the fixture by 12 runs.

Tilak Verma achieved a unique feat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and became the fourth player to get retired out. He walked off the field with seven balls to go in his team’s fixture against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday. He played a knock of 25 runs from 23 deliveries after coming as an impact sub during the chase of 204.

MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated that it was a tactical decision from the team to call Tilak back into the pavilion.

"He just wanted to get going, but he couldn't. [We] waited till the last few overs, hoping that [he would find his rhythm], because he had spent some time there so he should have been able to get that hit out of the way, but I just felt that at the end, I just needed someone fresh to go, and he was struggling,” Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference.

"These things happen in cricket. Not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point."

Tilak walked into the middle when MI were at 86/3 after 8.1 overs, he forged a 66-run partnership with Suryakumar Yadav for the fourth wicket. Suryakumar contributed 46 runs in the alliance but Tilak struggled for fluency with 17 runs.

After Suryakumar’s dismissal, MI needed 52 runs from the last 23 deliveries. The left-handed batter managed to score eight from his last five balls before he was taken off the field.

Hardik Pandya also stated that he was taken out as Tilak was not able time big shots.

"I think that was obvious. We needed some hits, and he was not [able to get them]. Sometimes in cricket, one of those days comes when you really want to try but it does not happen, but the decision speaks for] itself, why we did it,” he told the broadcasters.

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