Mumbai Indians' management surprised everyone when they made the bold decision to retire out Tilak Varma during their clash against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. With 24 runs needed off just 7 balls, MI’s think tank decided to pull back their Impact Player, Tilak Varma, and send in Mitchell Santner. The move left fans and commentators puzzled, as a lower-order batter was brought in to replace a specialist top-order player. At the time, Varma was batting on 25 off 23 deliveries. Also Read: 'I take full ownership': Hardik Pandya after MI's loss to LSG Now, Suryakumar Yadav's reaction to the decision has gone viral on social media. The Indian batter, who had earlier scored a brilliant 67 off 43 balls, looked visibly confused when he saw Varma walking off the field unexpectedly. Sky sad reaction for Tilak verma when he retired by the management❤❤❤❤❤ pic.twitter.com/oufA36YHCe — Sachin rauniyar (@Sachinraun) April 5, 2025 Tilak Varma becomes the fourth player to be retired out in IPL With this, Tilak Varma became only the fourth player in Indian Premier League history to be retired out. The first instance of this rare move came from Ravichandran Ashwin, who did it while playing for the Rajasthan Royals. During that match, he walked in ahead of Riyan Parag but then retired himself out in the 19.2 over, allowing Parag to face the final four balls. Parag went on to score eight runs. Also Read: Watch: Langer answer reporter's mother's call during press conference The second player to be retired out was Punjab Kings' Atharva Taide in IPL 2023, during a match against Delhi Capitals. Although he was batting on 55 off 42 balls, his strike rate wasn’t helping the team’s cause as they needed over 17 runs per over. The team sent in Jitesh Sharma instead, but PBKS ended up losing by 15 runs. Sai Sudharsan became the third player to be retired out during Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians in the 2023 season. He was on 43 off 31 balls before walking off to let Rashid Khan face the final over. Tilak Varma joined this rare list on Friday. With MI needing quick runs, the team opted to replace him with Santner. However, the strategy didn’t pay off, as the Mumbai Indians eventually lost the game by 12 runs.