'Retired Out' Is Normal In Street, Club And Even Professional Cricket. Ashwin And IPL Just Made It A Big Deal

R Ashwin, playing for Rajasthan Rowals, did a first in IPL on Sunday | Photo: Rajasthan Royals

The other evening at the NCR ground in Ghaziabad, at a highly competitive league match under floodlights in the ABP Premier League, there was a big argument within the batting side dugout who wanted to recall the batsman because he wasn’t hitting boundaries and sixes. Eventually, the batsman was called back and another one sent to pump up the scoring.

It was just a normal act that has happened so regularly in street and club cricket all around that it was never even noticed. Nor did anyone ever bothered, if the batsman was 'retired out' or 'retired hurt'. He was indeed hurt of being recalled but labelled retired out on the scoreboard.  

Until R Ashwin did what he usually does, pick up stuff from normal tennis ball cricket to white ball cricket. So many have graduated from tennis ball to hard ball cricket but none have applied the antics so well and boldly as Ashwin. Be it the carrom ball, sodokku ball, getting non-striker out Mankading, stopping in your delivery stride and then bowling, switch from off-spin to leg spin as per batsman playing style — these are oh-so-common practices in tennis ball games that Ashwin has placed on international cricket radar.  

So why is it such a big debate? Certainly, it hasn’t happened even in professional cricket for the first time. Ashwin has applied it 12 years after Shahid Afridi did, and is just the fourth cricketer to do so. Maybe it’s the IPL then. Surely, that seems to be the case, where even players striving hard in domestic cricket for years are considered “discovered by IPL franchisees”.

Retired Out — The Definition In Cricket Rules   

So, what is the real difference as per rules of a batsman who is retired out or retired hurt? Law 25.4.3 states if a batter retires for any reason other than illness or injury or any unavoidable cause and without the consent of the umpire, the innings of that batter may be resumed only with the consent of the opposing captain. If for any reason his/her innings is not resumed, that batter is to be recorded as 'Retired – out'.

There are certain things that were considered a taboo in international cricket. But with changing times and the need for experiment, ‘compromises’ were made. For example, the slower bouncer or the slower one is now an essential component for every fast bowler to survive. But in early times, it was considered demeaning for a fast bowler if his bouncer didn't reach up to the batsman or if he bowled a slower one.

None thought it could be possible for a skipper to drop himself, until IPL franchisees forced their international players to drop themselves, even an Indian for that matter in Gautam Gambhir. But such is the aura of IPL, that something that has been a practice in lower levels and well inscribed in the MCC manuals seems to have ballooned into a brilliant tactic by a team or a player.

A crucial 28 off 23 and just 20 from his 4 overs with the wet ball.

Meet our team man, Ravi Ash. 💗 #RoyalsFamily | #दिलसेरॉयल | #RRvLSG pic.twitter.com/Rvz86JQgpa

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 11, 2022

Mankading was in the rule book always, yet Ashwin was applauded and ridiculed for it when he brought it into spotlight during the IPL game a couple of years ago. This time, however, there seems to be a general unanimity of his brilliance.  

Ashwin’s act is nothing but presence of common sense in a cricketer, who realised someone else has a better option of striking the ball for the benefit of a team. Now, how teams will use it, if at all they will, to their benefit remains to be seen. The pressure is mostly on the batsman now, for he will be under intense scrutiny of his strike rate. We may have never seen Rahul Tewatia hitting Cottrell for five sixes in an over if he would have chosen that retired out option, given his initial struggles of putting bat to ball.   

Just like Mankading, which was in the rulebook and yet never practised voluntarily by players, retired out will remain as an option seldom taken by players. And for all practical purposes, the batsman who has settled in well will always be the best option to take the attack to the opposition.

Ashwin, though, felt differently and that’s where this debate should rest.