Punjab Kings batter Atharva Taide has become the second cricketer in the history of the Indian Premier League to get retired out. The 23-year old player has joined Rajasthan Royals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in this rare list comprising batters who were asked to put the team ahead of them.
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Even after a batting promotion, Ashwin was called back by his team management in an IPL 2022 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium. Taide, meanwhile, was called by PBKS’ think thank against Delhi Capitals at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium tonight.
Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the second over of a daunting 214-run chase, Taide scored 55 (42) with the help of five fours and two sixes. While not much was wrong with his innings in general, a strike rate of 130.95 was nowhere near to the demand of his team needing to score over 10 runs per over on a regular basis.
If truth be told, Kings were at least a couple of overs late to take the call with respect to the left-handed batter. With Taide not being able to complement batter Liam Livingstone as far as playing the big shots were concerned, they could’ve recalled Taide before the 16th over as well.
What is Retired Out in IPL?
For the unversed, Retired Out in IPL or any format of cricket can be defined as a voluntary dismissal initiated by the batter or his/her team. The decision is primarily taken to cater to the soaring run rate whilst chasing (in the latest case) or to further up the ante when batting first.
It is noteworthy that a retired out batter can’t return to the ground to resume his innings even if his/her team has lost all other wickets. In what remains a bold move at this point in time, expect it to be a commonly followed strategy especially in the shortest format in the years to come.
Retired Out vs Retired Hurt
A primary difference between retired out and retired hurt is that a batter can return to bat in the second case. Furthermore, “retired hurt” only happens after a batter has suffered an injury whilst batting as was the case with LSG captain Krunal Pandya in IPL 2023 Match 63 last night.
