An unusual incident staged on Tuesday in the International T20 League (ILT20). The match was played between Desert Vipers and MI Emirates in Abu Dhabi. Max Holden, Vipers’ team cricketer, who came to bat, was seen struggling while batting. In the meantime, MI’s Nicholas Pooran deliberately failed to stump him. It was an easy chance to stump the batsman. Immediately afterward, the Vipers called Holden to the pavilion and declared him retired out. This strange incident has caught the attention of fans.

Was this a tactics?

In fact, when the Vipers came out to bat, Andres Gaus was dismissed for 21 runs off 15 balls. Fakhar Zaman (35 runs off 31 balls) and Max Holden then batted cautiously, adding 51 runs for the second wicket in 37 balls. After Fakhar’s dismissal, Sam Curran came on to bat and shared a 20-run partnership with Holden off 29 balls. Both Curran and Holden struggled to score runs during this period.

When Rashid Khan came on to bowl in the 16th over of the innings, Holden was constantly getting beaten. On the fifth ball of the over, Rashid’s googly beat Holden and he came out far ahead of the crease. The ball went into the hands of wicketkeeper Pooran, but he deliberately did not stump him. Seeing this, the Vipers team was shocked. On the very next ball, they called Holden back and declared him retired out. Holden retired out after scoring 42 runs in 37 balls with the help of three fours. Karan could score only 19 runs in 19 balls. Desert Vipers scored 159 runs in 20 overs for the loss of four wickets.

MI Emirates could not chase the score and lost the thrilling match by one run. Emirates team could only score 158 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. Tom Banton scored 34 runs in 29 balls, Pooran scored 31 runs in 29 balls and captain Kieron Pollard scored 23 runs in 13 balls. Desert Vipers team is currently at the top of the IL T20 points table with eight points. Meanwhile, MI Emirates team is at fourth place with two points. This T20 league is organized between six teams.