IPL 2022: Tom Moody feels retired out move won’t be used often

Ravichandran Ashwin and Tom Moody

Ravichandran Ashwin's unexpected retired out strategy for his team Rajasthan Royals against Lucknow Super Giants in Sunday's IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium has been among the hotly debated topics in this season of the T20 League as it was the first-ever time it was adopted in the league.

Asked about the incident, Sunrisers Hyderabad's chief coach Tom Moody said at the post match media conference at the DY Patil Stadium on Monday night after his team's resounding eight-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans that he did not foresee the tactics to be adopted by competing teams on a regular basis.

"As a strategy of Ashwin retiring - it is something which has been talked about, whether it would be through commentators or within teams, that would be a reasonably sound option. I don't have an issue with it at all. It shows good initiative and if it comes off for you, it is great," said Moody after his team's second win in four games.

"[But] I don't think it is something you will see as a common trend, but it may well come in from time to time," added the Australian.

Ashwin, batting on 28 off 23 balls, left the field after facing two balls in the penultimate over against LSG to allow youngster Riyan Parag, considered as the better option to go for big hits at that stage, to walk in and score a crucial eight runs in four balls.

The Rajasthan outfit's director of cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, has termed that the decision to retire out was taken "at the right time."

Former West Indian fast bowler Ian Bishop, among the tournament's TV commentary panel, also endorsed the move by tweeting "Ashwin retired out is fascinating T20 tactics. T20 is causing us to rethink the way we conceive the game of in the 21st century."