India and Rajasthan Royals off-spinner R Ashwin has said that T20 cricket hasn't been "fully cracked yet" and regulations and something like retiring out will become more common with time and hopefully won’t be stigmatized as ‘running the non-striker out’.
This came after Ashwin became the first batter in IPL history to get retire out while batting for Rajasthan Royals against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. He was promoted to No. 6 in the tenth over to allow the regular No. 6 Riyan Parag a more suitable point of entry.
Ashwin made 28 off 23 balls and then made way for Riyan Parag who had a fresher set of legs for the last four balls of the 20th over.
"It might work sometimes and it might not work sometimes. These things happen constantly in football, and we haven't cracked T20 cricket fully yet. This is a millennial sport. This is the next generation's sport. In fact, if you see in football, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo score goals frequently. But their team's goalkeeper should also save goals and their defenders should defend well. Only then, a Messi or Ronaldo will be in the limelight.
T20, as a sport, is heading towards where football has reached. Just like how they're using substitutions, I did something similar [retiring out]. Already we're late, but I believe this will happen a lot in the coming days. I don't think it will be a stigma like running someone out at the non-striker's end,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
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Ashwin called it a tactical move as he explained that he "threw the kitchen sink at everything" but was not able to score easily.
"It was just a tactical move. In fact, Riyan Parag has been batting very well and when the [K] Gowtham over [16th over] ended, I gave myself some time - five to six balls - to see whether I can hit a six or two fours. There were a few balls in the slot, I tried to hit, and mistimed a bit. I threw the kitchen sink at everything, but I couldn't get the timing going. Someone like Riyan Parag was in the shed and there were only ten balls remaining. If he comes and hits even two sixes, we could get a good score. It was a tactical decision,” Ashwin said.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
