WPL: 'Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't': Sthalekar on retiring Harleen Deol out

NAVI MUMBAI: Just before the fourth season of Women's Premier League kicked off, UP Warriorz head coach Abhishek Nayar, while explaining his decision to appoint Australia legend Meg Lanning as the captain of his side, had said that, "having Meg there makes things very easy for me because she's going to take all the pressure. I'm going to be chilling, having coffee. So no pressure. I'm very excited,” Nayar said.

However, after his team has suffered three defeats in a row at the start of their campaign, the former India and Mumbai allrounder would have realized that being the head coach of a franchise team isn't such an easy job, after all, even if you appoint a great player as your captain.




On Wednesday night, during their seven-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals at the DY Patil Stadium, the UP Warriorz made a mistake they were left to rue later.

In order to get some quick runs at the death, they decided to retire out Harleen Deol, who was batting at a decent clip, with the UP Warriorz (UPW) at 141 for four after 17 overs. The India batter had scored 47 off 36 balls - a strike rate of 130.55 - with the help of seven fours.

However, the decision backfired spectacularly as UPW lost six wickets for 20 runs and finished at 154 for eight in 20 overs.

Explaining what transpired in the dugout and the reason behind the move, UPW mentor Lisa Sthalekar said in the post-match press conference, "He (Nayar) turns to me and he goes, 'I think it's the time we need to potentially bring Harleen off.' And I was like, 'Ooh, okay, this isn't a normal thing in the women's game. And then I think another over came and she just wasn't able to get that swing, that power that we needed to clear the boundaries. So then it was decided (to retire her out). And then he (Nayar) spoke, I think, to Meg (Lanning, the captain) and a couple of the coaches just quickly to make sure we were all on the same page. And then we pulled the trigger."

On Tuesday, Ayushi Soni made history when she became the first player to be retired out in the WPL. However, unlike the experienced Harleen, Ayushi is uncapped and was making her WPL debut for Gujarat Giants. With next batter Bharti Phulmali smashing 36 not out off 15 balls, GG's decision worked out perfectly well.

Much to UPW's bad luck, the batters who followed Deol-Chloe Tryon, Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma all failed.

Sthalekar revealed that the idea was to "maximise the last three overs," even though she felt the idea of calling back a set batter was risky. "The only thing I questioned was, I think, Meg got out, and I said, 'If we pull her (Deol) the next over, then you've got two new batters (at the crease),' She's kind of got used to the conditions. But I think we had about 40 (18) deliveries left. So it's like, how are we going to maximise those deliveries? And we still felt with Chloe, with an Asha (Sobhana), with a Sophie, that we still had firepower. Like I said, sometimes these things work and we look like geniuses. And sometimes they don't. And that's why we love this game of cricket. It keeps us on our toes," Sthalekar said.

On April 10, 2022, India's off-spin great Ravichandran Ashwin became the first batter to be tactically retired out in the IPL, by Rajasthan Royals against Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium, during IPL-2022. Ashwin had been promoted to No. 6 slot in the tenth over. Since then, many batters have been retired out by their teams in search of quick runs in a format where the par score has kept on increasing.

"I think the game keeps evolving and if we keep getting stuck in the past, then someone's going to catch us up in terms of why people retire players out, it's because they probably feel there's more power still to come. And if you're trying to capitalise on the last few overs, you want the balls to be cleared to the boundaries with ease. And that's why a number of teams, over a recent period of time, have decided to retire a player out and bring in firepower. Sometimes it works - and we've seen that in the Big Bash [League] recently - and sometimes it doesn't," Sthalekar said.

Meanwhile, despite UPW opener Kiran Navgire's poor streak-she was out for a three-ball duck following up on scores of five and one in the opening two games, Sthalekar backed the big-hitter from Maharashtra, terming her as an "X-factor." "Kiran hasn't clicked yet for us. But one thing about her is she's not going to eat up balls, is she?She's willing to take the bowlers on. And we're just hoping that the work that she's been doing prior to this tournament, and then also in the lead-up to these matches and the plans that she's coming with, talking to the coaching staff, that she's able to get, I guess from our point of view, one away so that she goes, 'okay, I can do this'. Because you guys would have seen how destructive she can be. So she's a real X-factor," Sthalekar said.



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