Why was Tilak Verma retired out? Jayawardene answered the biggest question

In the 16th match of IPL 2025, Lucknow Super Giants defeated Mumbai Indians by 12 runs to get their second win in the tournament. Mumbai Indians had to chase the target of 204 runs but they could only score 191 runs in the stipulated 20 overs and lost the match by 12 runs. After this defeat, a decision of Mumbai Indians is also being criticized a lot.

Actually, the Mumbai camp decided to retire Tilak Verma, who was struggling, on the last ball of the 19th over, but this decision did not go in their favor and Mumbai had to face defeat. After the match, many veterans criticized this strategic decision and now Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene has broken his silence on this decision.

Jayawardene said the decision to retire Tilak Varma was a strategic one as the left-handed batsman struggled to score runs during the run chase against Lucknow Super Giants. Tilak scored 25 runs off 23 balls in the high-pressure chase and could not find any rhythm at the Ekana Stadium, due to which Mumbai lost the match by 12 runs.

Jayawardene was asked about this in the post-match press conference. Speaking to reporters, he said, "When we lost that wicket, Tilak batted well for us and built a partnership with Suryakumar. He was trying to score runs, but he was not able to score properly. We waited till the last few overs, hoping that since he has spent some time in the middle, he would be able to hit. But he was struggling, and in those moments, you need a new player. It is not good to get someone out like that, but it was a tactical decision at that time. Purely tactical, don't read too much into it."

Speaking further, Jayawardene said, "It was purely tactical. We were just taking one player out and bringing another in. Don't read too much into it - it was just a game-based decision."

Well, whatever the reason for this decision, Mumbai is currently being trolled a lot because of this decision. With this defeat, Mumbai have slipped to the seventh spot in the points table and now Mumbai's next match will be against RCB on Monday, 7 April.