Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Tilak Varma (25 off 23) on Friday night (April 4) was retired out by his team as he struggled against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in an IPL 2025 match.

Also read: Lucknow defeat Mumbai

In a thrilling last-over finish in Lucknow, the home team LSG held their nerve to eke out a 12-run victory over the five-time champions.

Tilak retired out in 19th over

The 19th over of MI’s run chase of 204 saw Impact Sub Tilak being retired out and replaced by another left-hander – Mitchell Santner. The tactical move could not yield the desired result for MI as they lost the match.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the first batter to retire out, in IPL 2022. At the time, he was playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR), and that move too came against LSG.

After the game, MI captain Hardik Pandya explained the decision to retire out Tilak. “It was obvious. We needed some hits. He was not getting those. In cricket some of those days come, when you try but they don’t come.”

On the loss, he said, “Disappointing when you lose. If we had to be honest, in the field, 10-12 runs we gave too much. We fell short in the end. As a batting unit, we fell short. We win as a team, we lose as a team. I take full ownership.”

“Always enjoyed my bowling. I don’t have many options but I read the wicket and use smarter options. I never go for wickets but try to make batters make mistakes. Today was one of those days,” he said about his bowling and taking a five-wicket haul.

What is the law about retiring out

“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,” says the law.

Players retired out in the IPL

R Ashwin (RR) vs LSG, Wankhede, 2022

Atharva taide (pbks) vs DC, Dharamsala, 2023

SAI SUDHARSAN (GT) vs mi, ahmedabad, 2023

Tilak Varma (MI) vs LSG, Lucknow, 2025