Watch: Should retire-out be normalized? Aakash Chopra questions after Mohammad Rizwan's time-out in BBL 2025/26
The former opening batter of the Indian cricket team, Aakash Chopra, has questioned whether the decision of retire-out be made normalized after the time-out decision of Mohammd Rizwan in BBL 2025/26.
During the Big Bash League (BBL)2025/26 clash between the Melbourne Renegades and the Sydney Thunder, the former franchise decided to retire their wicket-keeper batter, Mohammed Rizwan, who became the first overseas player in this league to be retired out. The plan was to score quickly.
This is when the former Indian opening batter, Aakash Chopra, has wondered if the decision to retire out should be made a norm, given it hurts the team on most occasions. He questions whether the team has the right to not complete the full quota of four overs for the bowlers, and why couldn’t the same be done with the batters?
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“Mohammad Rizwan has retired from the Big Bash League. He was playing slowly, and they said that they would send someone else in his place. The hope was to see someone else scoring quickly. And I am to make it normal because when a bowler does not bowl, you don’t actually fulfill his quota of 4 overs. You make others bowl in that place.”
Aakash Chopra asks retired-out to be normalized
The renowned commentator has also shown his concern over the form of Rizwan and Babar Azam, the two Pakistan veteran batters, ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, and wondered if they should be picked in the national side.
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“Why don’t you treat the batter in the same way? Why does it become embarrassing for the batters to be retired? If you’re playing slowly, then the team has every right to bring you back to the pavilion and send someone new. And it has now happened twice in the Big Bash League this season.” Chopra addressed.
“Mohammad Rizwan has not scored at all as his average is around 20 with a strike rate of nearly 100 with no 50 in this tournament, and he has only smashed one fifty in eight innings for his 167 runs. This is the same case with Babar Azam, who has an average of 25. Even after two fifties, he has only two sixes in over 150 deliveries.” The former opener concluded.
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