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‘Would’ve asked him to fake injury or retire out…': Sehwag's bombastic remark on PBKS player Atharva Taide's knock vs DC
Virender Sehwag said that the PBKS might have hoped that once Atharva Taide got to his half-century he would score at a brisk rate but that didn't happen.
With five overs remaining in their chase of 214 against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday, Punjab Kings made a rare tactical call. Atharva Taide, who had scored 55 off 42 balls, went off the field, becoming only the second player in IPL history to retire out.
At that point, PBKS were 128 for 3, needing 86 to win off 30 balls.
Kings had begun their chase with a required rate of 10.7 in 20 overs. Taide had faced the equivalent of seven overs and gone at a rate of a little under eight runs an over, scoring at a strike rate of 131. When Taide retired out, their required rate had shot up to 17.2.
With six-hitters in Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan and Sam Curran waiting to bat, it seemed like the correct move for the Kings to retire out a batter who was clearly struggling and they probably should have done it a bit earlier in the game.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Indian great Virender Sehwag said that the Kings might have hoped that once Taide got to his half-century he would score at a brisk rate, but that did not happen and he ended up wasting a few more deliveries.
“I would have retired him earlier in the game. If he’d have scored 70 off 42 balls, Punjab would have won the game. I would have asked him to retire earlier or to fake an injury and retire hurt instead of retired out, as Krunal Pandya did for LSG,” Sehwag said to Cricbuzz. “If you’ve retired hurt, you can come back to bat if needed, but you cannot return if you’re retired out. If instead of retiring after facing 42 deliveries, he would have retired after 36 balls, someone else could have scored probably 15 runs in those 6 deliveries.”
“Punjab miscalculated it a little. Every batter wants to score as many runs as possible in the least amount of deliveries. But if you’re not in the groove, it should not hurt your ego to retire in order to help your team, you will get the chance to show what you’re capable of in some other game down the line.”
Liam Livingstone's six-hitting kept Kings in the game, just about, and when the last over began, he was on strike with 34 required. The win seemed to go out of the window when he swung and missed at the first ball from Ishant Sharma, but a six on a no-ball for a high full-toss later in the over put Kings back in contention with 16 needed off the last three balls.
It wasn't to be though, with Ishant closing the match out with two dots and the wicket of Livingstone, caught on the long-off boundary for 94 off 48 balls.
That the Kings got as close as they did only reinforced the idea that they may have left it too late to retire Taide out. But on another day, they may not have needed to make the decision at all. In the 10th over, when Taide was on 35 off 28, he stepped out to Kuldeep Yadav and miscued it to long-on, where substitute fielder Yash Dhull put down a sitter.
Dhull's drop was part of a series of fielding lapses from the Capitals. Livingstone had been given a reprieve in Kuldeep's previous over when Anrich Nortje dropped him at deep midwicket.
After the defeat to DC, Punjab are still in the playoff hunt but their chances are slim as they not only need to win their final game but also need other results to go in their favour and a big net run-rate swing in order to qualify.
