Gavaskar to Holden: Cricket’s Curious Case of Retired-Out and Strategic Batting

From Gavaskar’s cautious 1970 World Cup innings to Max Holden’s retired-out tactic in ILT20, cricket showcases the evolving strategies and psychology behind staying at the crease.

Controversial Batting Decisions (Image Source: Google)

Recently in a Desert Vipers vs MI Emirates match in ILT20 at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE, the nail-biting finish (Vipers won by 1 run) was not the only highlight of match, a strange Desert Vipers move proved to be the game-changer and big ‘education’ on the tactical front.

The Vipers were 117/1 in 15.5 overs (only 20 runs were scored from the previous four overs) with Max Holden, batting on 42 off 36 balls. At this moment, Holden stepped out for a big shot off Rashid Khan, missed but surprisingly the wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran deliberately did not stump him. Why? The thinking was that if Holden stays, the Vipers' scoring rate is not likely to increase much. No cricket law was broken. It was just a tactical move.

Vipers were over smart, read the situation well and retired Holden out, one ball later and replaced him by Shimron Hetmyer. They ultimately finished at 159/4 in 20 overs but restricted MI Emirates to 158/9 and registered a one-run win.

The Nicholas move left Holden confused. The ball was called a wide by the umpire but stumpings are allowed off wide deliveries. No run was scored off the next ball also and the Vipers immediately called back the England player, retiring him out. The move clicked and Hetmyer scored 15 from nine balls.

What about the strategy to not dismiss a batsman deliberately as his staying at the wicket becomes more useful than his dismissal? Whenever anything like this occurs, the best story in flashback comes from the first World Cup played 50 years back, and that too India story.

England played India at Lord’s on the first day of the event. Batting first, England piled 334-4 off 60 overs (Amiss 137). In reply, India gave a disappointing exhibition of batting leaving their own supporters aghast. The chief architect of the dismal performance was Sunil Gavaskar who batted throughout 60 overs for his 36 not out and India total was 132-3 and they lost by 202 runs.

A lot has been written about Gavaskar’s disappointing batting and still studied as a mystery. In view of what happened with the Holden, the performance of Gavaskar can also be looked at from a different angle. The England team also helped him in staying at the crease for 174 balls and registering a strike rate of even less than 21. Why didn’t Gavaskar throw his wicket for India camp and didn't think of calling him back as retired out?

It is on record that neither India team manager GS Ramchand (a former Test cricketer) nor the captain Venkataraghavan supported what Gavaskar did but both came out in open only after India innings ended. ‘It was the most disgraceful and selfish performance I have ever seen… his excuse (to me) was, the wicket was too slow to play shots but that was a stupid thing to say after England had scored 334,’ said GS Ramchand.

The way India batted, it was clear that the acceleration was not pressed although India had wickets in hand. No doubt, at that time Indian cricketers were clumsy as far as playing one-day cricket is concerned but the batsman involved was studious Sunil Gavaskar and one can imagine that he knew what he was doing.

Karsan Ghavri in a YouTube interview said ‘So many times, messages were sent, asking him to either accelerate or get out, trying to pick up the pace. But Sunil Gavaskar was Sunil Gavaskar in the 1970s. He wouldn't listen to anyone. He just played out Tony Greig, Geoff Arnold, Chris Old and Bob Willis.’

Gavaskar justified his batting, after the match, ‘I was facing these guys, practising against them for the Test matches in the future.' However, even Team India supporters didn’t buy this clarification. ‘Dejected Indians were pathetically pleading with him to die fighting," reported the Cricketer.

Ted Dexter, commentating for the BBC, argued that Gavaskar should have been pulled from the field by his captain. Manager GS Ramchand played Tests and was not at all in a position to advise Venkat to take the bold step of calling Gavaskar back. Venkat on the other hand was one of the Indian players having exposure to the limited over cricket, as he played in the English cricket season, must share the blame for not pulling Gavaskar back like what Vipers did with Holden.

Years later, Gavaskar admitted that it was the worst innings of his life and claimed he was out of form, ‘There were occasions I felt like moving away from the stumps so I would be bowled. This was the only way to get away from the mental agony from which I was suffering.

Do you know that Gavaskar had been caught behind off the second ball of the innings. He was not given out and he didn’t walk also, ‘I asked myself, why the hell did I not walk the second ball? I was caught behind and would have been out for zero. But nobody appealed. I flashed outside the off stump....’ Not only this, but Gavaskar was also dropped thrice, off easy chances too.

Indian cricket and Gavaskar himself would have been spared a lot of embarrassment had he been given out caught behind to the second ball of the innings.