Five-over shootouts and last-ball thrilers: Ten times retiring a batter has actually worked in T20 cricket

Jeet Raval & Xavier Bell - Northern Districts vs Otago, Super Smash 2025/26

Northern Districts were chasing 167 against Otago. Each of their top three had made starts, but none had dominated proceedings. Raval came out to bat at No.4 with the score on 75-2 from 8.3 overs, but struggled to get going. He was on 19 (21) at the end of the 14th over, which became 23 (27) after 16. The equation for ND became 56 in four overs, with seven wickets in hand. When Raval dotted up on the first ball of the 17th over as well, the plug was finally pulled. Ben Pomare replaced him, and the impact was immediate. He smashed his first ball for six, before ND did something unprecedented. With 45 needed off the last three, they called back another batter - Xavier Bell - batting on 9 (13), making it the first instance of two retired outs in a men’s T20. The result? The same. Scott Kuggeleijn, the new batter, smashed a six first-ball and ended up playing a defining cameo of 34* (12) to help ND tie the game. Pomare’s knock of 20 (10) also helped, vindicating both the in-game retirements.

All 10 batters - UAE women vs Qatar women, T20 World Cup Qualifier 2025

In a seemingly bizarre, but ultimately brilliant tactical move, UAE retired out all of their batters with the team score on 192. They were playing Qatar at the 2025 Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Region Qualifier and were looking set for a total close to 250. Batting first, captain Esha Oza had made a hundred and was on 113 (55), while opening partner Theerta Satish was batting on 74 (42) at the 16-over mark, when the pair returned to the pavilion. In fact, new batters walked out and returned in pairs one after the other, with the UAE score officially going from 192-0 in 16 overs to 192-all out in 16 overs. They later revealed it was done with the impending inclement weather in mind. UAE felt they had enough on the board and did not want to waste more time batting. There is no provision to declare the innings in limited overs cricket, which led UAE to resort to this tactic. It worked like a charm, as they were able to clean up Qatar for 29 in 11.1 overs and win the game.

Samant Jakhar - Haryana vs Mumbai, SMAT 2025

Haryana’s Samant Jakhar would have felt he was hitting them alright when he raced off to 31 off 10 against Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. However, it didn’t long for the tide to turn. After coming on strike for the second ball of the 19th over, Jakhar couldn’t score off four consecutive Shardul Thakur deliveries. In a rather ruthless move, Haryana called him back despite him possessing a strike rate of 221 on paper. It would have been hard to top that for the incoming batter, but Sumit Kumar managed to do just that. He smashed a boundary of each of the four balls he faced to finish 16 not out and help take Haryana to 234-3. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s ton for Mumbai meant the score wasn’t enough, but Haryana got what they wanted out of the call to retire Jakhar.

Parswaraj Rana - Saurashtra vs Delhi, SMAT 2025

Saurashtra were chasing 208 against Delhi at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. They had begun well, with Prerak Mankad making 50 off 28. Parswaraj Rana came out to bat at No.5 with the score on 94-3 after 9.3 overs, but could barely manage to score at a run-a-ball. After the second ball of the 18th over, with Saurashtra needing 52 off 16 balls, Rana was retired out for 24 off 23. Luckyraj Vaghela took his place at the crease, and did almost everything he could have - hitting two fours and two sixes in seven balls to race to 23 - but it wasn’t enough to take them over the line as they fell short by 10 runs. Perhaps if the decision was taken earlier, the result might have been different.

Also read: 13-4 in three overs: WPL team's decision to retire out India World Cup-winner three short of half-century backfires

Gurnoor Brar - Punjab vs Haryana, SMAT 2025

Anmolpreet Singh was leading Punjab’s chase of 208 against Haryana after India T20I star Abhishek Sharma was out for 6 (5). Following Nehal Wadhera’s dismissal in the 14th over with the score on 145, Gurnoor Brar came to the crease ahead of two designated finishers in Sanvir Singh and Ramandeep Singh. In a critical period of the chase, Gurnoor’s knock sapped the momentum out of Punjab’s innings. He faced 10 balls and made only eight runs even as Anmolpreet departed at the other end for 81 off 37. Eventually, Abhishek, leading the side, called Gurnoor back with Punjab needing another 39 off 20. Ramandeep took his place and made 13 off nine to take Punjab closer to the target. He was dismissed from the first ball of the 20th over, with 12 runs still to get. They ended up getting 11 to tie the game.

Daryl Mitchell - Texas Super Kings vs Washington Freedom, MLC 2025

This is the retired-out call that perhaps gave the batting side the greatest return on investment. The MLC 2025 clash was reduced to five-overs-a-side and Texas were put into bat by Washington. They opened with Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell. Stoinis was out second ball for two and was replaced by Shubham Ranjane. The USA batter didn’t take time to get going, but Mitchell had only ambled to six off five. After three overs, Texas were 34-1. With enough resources left to utilise, they replaced Mitchell with Donovan Ferreira. The South African all-rounder faced nine of the remaining 12 deliveries and smacked five of them for sixes. He ended up with 37* (9) and took Texas to 87-2 in five overs. They won by 43 runs.

Alishan Sharafu - Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Desert Vipers, ILT20 2025

In the second match of ILT20 2025, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders started poorly, slipping to 39-3 after seven overs. That brought UAE’s Alishan Sharafu to the crease. He stabilised the innings with Phil Salt, but slowed down a tad as the innings progressed. He went from 43 off 30 to 46 off 34, a streak which proved enough for ADKR to recall him and send out Andre Russell instead. Russell faced the bulk of the three overs remaining, scoring an unbeaten 30 off 14 balls as he took ADKR from 125-4 to 166-5 in 20 overs. It didn’t turn out to be enough, eventually, as half-centuries by Dan Lawrence (70 off 39) and Sam Curran (50 off 37) took Desert Vipers comfortably over the line.

Selim Salau - Nigeria vs Ivory Coast, T20 WC Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier 2024

This game is remembered best for Ivory Coast’s implosion against Nigeria in the 2024 T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier. Nigeria, clearly a cut above, put up a mountain of 271-4 in their 20 overs before bowling Ivory Coast out for seven (not seventeen or seventy). It remains the only single-digit team total in men’s T20I history. The record low score meant an interesting retired-out call in the first innings went unnoticed. Selim Salau, who was batting on 112 off 53 balls, was called back after the 14th over at the team score of 186-2. Isaac Okpe replaced the centurion and clubbed 65 off 23 of his own to pile on the agony for Ivory Coast. It’s safe to say, Nigeria would have been comfortable even without this swap.

Nikolaas Davin - Namibia vs England, T20 World Cup 2024

England’s encounter against Namibia was reduced to a 10-over contest at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Batting first, they made 122-5 on the back of Harry Brook’s 47* (20). In response, Namibia could only get to 44-0 in their first six overs, which is when opener Nikolaas Davin - batting on 18 off 16 - was retired out, bringing former South African all-rounder David Wiese to the crease. Wiese smashed 27 off 12 balls, but the damage had already been done. Namibia fell comfortably short by 41 runs.

Sunzamul Islam - Cumilla Warriors vs Chattogram Challengers, BPL 2019/20

This was more of an accidental retired out dismissal than an intentional one, but it had an immediate and decisive impact. The now defunct Cumilla Warriors huffed and puffed their way through a chase of 160 against Chattogram Challengers, led primarily by Englishman Dawid Malan’s 74 off 51. At the start of the last over, they needed 16 to win with Malan on strike. A single off the first ball brought Abu Hider to the crease, who hit a four and a six and took a bye to bring the equation down to four needed off two. Next ball, Malan was run out attempting a second run. It meant the new batter would have to face the last ball, with three needed to win. For some reason, Sunzamul started walking out, but Cumilla had a change of heart as they called him back and sent Mujeeb Ur Rahman instead. Technically, since Sunzamul had entered the field of play and had gone back, he was adjudged retired out. As it transpired, Mujeeb hit the last ball - bowled by Liam Plunkett - for four and sealed a thrilling chase for Cumilla. Perhaps he was always meant to walk out next. Even then, Cumilla deserve some credit for calling Sunzamul back despite having made his way in, making it officially the first retired out dismissal in franchise cricket.