Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav was left confused and stunned when Tilak Varma retired out to let Mitchell Santner bat during their recent IPL 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on April 4.

On Friday night, the Mumbai Indians defeated the Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2025 match at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, needing 24 from 7 deliveries. The five-time IPL champions featured two set hitters in the middle, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya.

In a startling change of events, MI retired Tilak, a specialized batter, and replaced him with Mitchell Santner, a left-arm spinner by trade.

Suryakumar Yadav, MI's batting star, was perplexed when head coach Mahela Jayawardene explained why the decision was made. Tilak was batting on 25 off 23 when MI made the strategic call to have him retired out.

The move didn’t result in any significant impact, as Santner managed 2 off 2, and MI lost the contest, finishing at 191/5 while chasing 204.

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MI captain Hardik Pandya later said it was an "obvious" choice since Tilak, despite his best efforts, was unable to score boundaries.

“I think that was obvious. We needed some hits, and he (Tilak) was not getting them. As you say in cricket, one of those days when you really want to try, but it does not happen," Pandya said after the match.

Tilak thus became the fourth batter in IPL history after Ravichandran Ashwin, Atharva Taide, and Sai Sudharsan to have been retired out.

MI coach Jayawardene addressed the controversial call during an interaction with the media, echoing Pandya’s thoughts.

“He (Tilak) just wanted to get going, but he couldn’t. (We) waited till the last few overs, hoping that because he had spent some time there, he should have been able to get that hit out of the way, but I just felt that at the end, I just needed someone fresh to go, and he was struggling,” the MI coach added.