Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya stunned everyone with his leadership skill and earned many praises for his captaincy in the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on May 16. It was due to Krunal’s brilliance of giving the last over to Mohsin Khan only that LSG emerged victorious in the contest by five runs, Notably, Mohsin successfully defended ten runs in the final over of the game and played a significant role in the Lucknow-based team’s win.
Apart from Krunal’s captaincy, what turned out to be a major discussion on the internet was him retiring out while batting on 49 after sustaining an injury during the first innings. However, the LSG skipper later came back onto the field post the mid-innings and even completed his quota of four overs. While many considered it as a tactical move from Krunal to retire hurt himself, and , some termed it as against the spirit of the game.
Among all India’s star spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin also raised questions on Krunal’s move. The Rajasthan Royals‘ (RR) off-spinner took to Twitter and wrote: “Retired out? #LSGvsMI #KrunalPandya”
Although Ashwin’s stance initially seemed to be against Krunal, his response to one of the fan made it clear that he has no problem with what happened during the LSG-MI clash as it was right as per the cricketing rules.
“Utterly cheating” wrote the fan.
“The rules permit you to do it! There is no cheating,” responded Ashwin.
It is noteworthy that the cricket rules allow a batter to retire themselves out at any point with the condition that they won’t be able to bat afterwards. Meanwhile, in case of retired hurt, the player can come and bat in the later part of the innings.
Speaking of Krunal, the all-rounder was retired hurt during the match against MI. Many cricket enthusiasts took it as a deliberate move of Krunal to make way for Nicholas Pooran in the slog overs and also shared a few hilarious memes on the internet.
Here’s how netizens reacted:
Retired out? #LSGvsMI #KrunalPandya
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) May 16, 2023
The rules permit you to do it! There is no cheating
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) May 16, 2023
Krunal Pandya retired hurt just before slog overs… pic.twitter.com/L68p113pHO
— El Niño 🇮🇳 (@suppandiiii) May 16, 2023
Krunal Pandya getting retired hurt so that Pooran can come to bat & hit boundaries : pic.twitter.com/6KRQITEy3l
— Indian Memes (@Theindianmeme) May 16, 2023
Krunal pandya in today's match pic.twitter.com/aN8lb73Yce
— Arun Singh (@ArunTuThikHoGya) May 16, 2023
Lol Krunal pandya Intentionally faked injury😹😹 so that pooran comes in!😹😹
— ᴘʀᴀᴛʜᴍᴇsʜ⁴⁵ (@45Fan_Prathmesh) May 16, 2023
2 minutes silence for those who really thought krunal pandya is injured 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/oYZkCQbJbs
— Abhishek (@MSDianAbhiii) May 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/aftab169/status/1658505900095860737
Krunal Pandya bowling hmm….tactical injury indeed…selfless tactical injury nonetheless
— Jaammii.. (@Jaammiing) May 16, 2023
Fake!! Gautam Gambhir's another crying attempt. Just to score more runs!
— Pritesh Indore Patil (@PriteshSpeaks) May 16, 2023
Even if a strategy, should have been done in a dignified way rather than faking in front of billions and coming over to bowl the very first over. Nothing gentle about these men in the Gentlemen game.
— Mohit Arora (@iAroraMohit) May 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/Vibs_5/status/1658513840743800834
