Retired Out: More Power To The Thinkers | IPL 2022

A little grey matter always helps in the current day cricket format, which has become all muscle and aggression. More power to the thinkers.

Retired Out: Cricket rules vs ‘spirit of the game’ – IPL 2022: Quite a fascinating sight on Sunday, as Ravichandran Ashwin once more showed his acumen for interpretation of the ever-changing rules in cricket and opted to retire towards the fag end of the IPL 2022 match between his side, Rajasthan Royals, and Lucknow Super Giants. While there has been a lot being said about this, right or wrong, the fact remains that if it is in the rule book, a cricketer has the right to use it. Some say this is against the ‘spirit of the game’, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) has this rule in place, so it is left to the cricketers to best interpret or implement it. Ashwin did it, and one assumes he had the RR think-tank’s approval, so all is well, especially since it all ended up with a win.

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However, the same ICC rules also say that a bowler can be run-out at the non-striker’s end, without warning, if need be. But that never is taken with such magnanimity.

One assumes there are one big reason for this – when you are retiring yourself, that doesn’t affect any other batsman. But ‘Mankaded’ (the phrase made infamous by run-outs at the non-striker’s end) seems to raise hackles since it leads to damage to the opposition.

Ashwin reads the cricket rules and he uses them as they are. In 2019, he, as Kings XI Punjab skipper, dismissed Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler using this method.

While a lot was said about Ashwin’s move, mostly in criticism, no one really had much to calculate the number of yards being stolen by the non-striker even before the ball was delivered.

Quite an irony that Ashwin and Buttler should be teammates now. Also, quite sure that Buttler won’t be so offended now if ‘Mankad’ was used.

In a game loaded in favour of the batters, many things go against the fielding side – batsmen can change their grip, turn from right to left-handed at will, but the bowlers have to inform all concerned; the cricket ball just needs to hit the boundary cushion to be declared a six but the fielder has to make sure he stays inside the ground for a legitimate catch.

Even events like batsmen being run-out as they take it easy with the rules comes up for major debate, as was the case with Ian Bell and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in England not so long ago.

In other words, using the rules as they are written can be frowned at, but misusing them as batters isn’t always a no-no.

Quite the contradiction.

Nevertheless, kudos to Ashwin and RR for using this rule to their advantage. A little grey matter always helps in the current day cricket format, which has become all muscle and aggression. More power to the thinkers.