New Delhi: Team India's senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the first batter in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to retire himself out. His sensational move worked for his IPL team Rajasthan Royals (RR) as the next batter Riyan Parag scored 8 off 4 balls to take the team total to 165/6. Chasing the target, Lucknow Super Giants lost the match by just 3 runs.
According to cricketing law, "A batsman retires out if he retires without the umpire's permission and does not have the permission of the opposing captain to resume his innings. If such a return does not occur, the batman is marked as 'retired out' and this is considered a dismissal for the purposes of calculating a batting average."
Ashwin finally breaks his silence on his decision to retire out
"It was an in-the-moment thing. It's a team game that we often forget in the euphoria. But then it's an important aspect of the game we haven't considered," Ashwin, who scored 28 off 23 balls with two sixes and added 68 runs with Shimron Hetmyer for the fifth wickets, told Cricbuzz.
"T20 is more a team game than we all know. It is almost as much as football. The goal scorers are like your opening batter or wicket-takers. But they are worth it only if your goalkeeper or defenders are ready to do what it takes," mentioned Ashwin.
Bhutan's Sonam Tongbay is the only batsman to be 'retired out' in an international match. This was against Maldives at the 2019 South Asian Games.