After three Indian batsmen (KL Rahul (50), Shikhar Dhawan (51) and Cheteshwar Pujara (34) “retired out” on the first day of the two-day practice match against West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI, Cheteswar Pujara’s father Arvind Pujara has said that he fails to understand the logic of making batsmen retire out, even in a practice match.
“I don’t know what was the logic of these batsmen or the captain (Virat Kohli) but it is not against the spirit of the game”, Arvind Pujara, speaking to Deccan Chronicle from Rajkot, said on Sunday.
“They may have their own tactics. Being a coach for my son, I never had an opportunity to discuss such move with him in the past. As a coach, my job was to teach him the basics of the game. The coach of the current generation apply their own tactics in the match”, he added.
Usually, batsmen are retired out in practice games to give every other batsman some time to spend in the middle. The first instance of retired out in International cricket was witnessed in 2001, when Sri Lankan batsmen Marvan Atapattu (201) and Mahela Jayawardene (150)-decided to retire out.
“For the first time in 1,561 Tests, the words “retired out” appeared on a scorecard. The reaction was strong: some in the Sri Lankan press claimed Test cricket had been demeaned,” Wisden Almanack had published then.
According to Deccan Chronicle, Rudi Koertzen, who was the umpire in that match, was also left baffled by that incident.
“I was a bit surprised and never expected,” speaking from South Africa, he said.
“But the laws of the game never prohibit the batsmen to retire at any time and if it is in the interest of the team it is always good. The retiring batsmen giving a chance to the other team members to bat is a good decision. It is not against the spirit of the game,” he said.
“I had heard that few (former) Australians (players) then wanted to penalize the batting side by five runs for each such dismissal but nothing of that sort came for official communication thereafter.”
“It is always better to be retired out than being out deliberately and thus allowing the bowler to claim the credit of the wicket”, Koertzen concluded.