Former England opener Mark Butcher shared thoughts about R Ashwin’s famous decision to retire out in Rajasthan Royals’ Indian Premier League 2022 game against the Lucknow Super Giants on April 10.
Butcher believes Ashwin leading the bandwagon for tactical retirements is a “bizarre” addition to cricket’s complicated nature. He said while he has no moral issue with Ashwin and RR’s decision to call him back in the middle of an innings as it is part of the sport’s law books, he feels if more teams follow suit, the game of cricket and T20 will get more bewildering for audiences.
“I don’t think he [Ashwin] is the story here. He is perfectly entitled to do it. The laws of the game in the tournament state that you can, so I’ve got no issue with it on a law-making or a moral level.
I just find it a slightly bizarre addition to what is already a quite complicated sport,”
Butcher said on Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast.
He also termed it as an “unnecessary” inclusion to the sport. He also asked why there is no bowling equivalent available in the rule books so that bowling teams, who may be finding it too difficult to cover the quota of one of their bowlers, could possibly bring in a substitute.
“But again, I don’t really see the point,” said Butcher, who thinks such moves make for good “headlines” but aren’t necessarily required in the game. In complete contrast was the thought process of Ashwin and the RR think-tank when they called their lower-order batter back in the shed.
Precariously placed at 67/4 in the 10th over, RR decided to promote Ashwin to No.6 to try and arrest a collapse and allow their designated power-hitter Riyan Parag a more suited entry point. Ashwin stitched a critical 68-run stand with Shimron Hetmyer, scoring 28 off 23 at his end.
But once his role had been fulfilled, the RR think-tank wasted no time in sending Parag in to maximise the remaining 10 balls in their innings. RR went hammer and tongs at the end and finished with 165/6, eventually winning the game by three runs.
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