'They missed...' - Piyush Chawla Slams CSK's Devon Conway's Retirement in IPL 2025

Experts were divided about Chennai Super Kings' choice to send out Devon Conway in the 18th over of their chase against Punjab Kings. The visitors in Chandigarh on Tuesday failed to capitalize on the decision, losing by 18 runs to record their fourth consecutive IPL 2025 defeat. Former Australia captain Michael Clarke questioned the decision's logic, while Piyush Chawla and Wasim Jaffer said Chennai made a mistake in time.

Conway, who was having trouble getting the big strokes off in the match, ought to have been pulled out earlier in the contest, according to Chawla, who was not impressed with the decision. The Kiwi stumper-batter appeared to be attempting to take the game deep, which ultimately increased the needed run rate, according to the Aligarh native, who also criticized his strategy during the match.

Piyush Chawla Breaks Silence:

Conway, who battled in the middle overs (38 off 27) and powerplay (22 off 16), reached one of the slowest fifties of the season in 37 balls. After the fifth delivery of the 18th over, Chennai chose to retire Conway, replacing him with Ravindra Jadeja, as time was running out and the dugout was under increasing pressure from the asking rate. 

Chawla and Jaffer concurred in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo that Chennai lost the plot due to timing rather than the decision. Conway's strategy in the chase and his hesitation to take a chance when Shivam Dube showed aggression in the middle overs were criticized by the seasoned Indian spinner.

Chawla said, "Conway is the kind of batter who is more technically strong, and he doesn't try to play that [many shots] in the air. You also saw that in the middle overs. He was rolling his wrists like a proper technical batsman when he was trying to hit a pull shot. That's where they missed that point. When Shivam [Dube] was trying to hit those big shots, Conway didn't even try that. At one point, I felt he just wanted to take it deep. But if you want to take the game deep, you don't want your [asking] rate to go out of hand. If they wanted to do that, they could have done that at least two-three overs before that also, because if he is not getting those big shots, you want somebody to come in, and you want to give that kind of sighter, at least two to three balls, and then got for it. By the time they retired him out, it was too late, I felt."

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