Rookie Australian batsman Matt Renshaw admitted on Thursday that a desperate need to use the toilet prompted him to “retire ill” in the middle of his innings on day one of the first Test against India on Thursday.
The 20-year-old revealed that he was struggling at the crease. “It came pretty suddenly, probably about five or ten minutes before Davey (David Warner) got out, I asked (Umpire) Richard (Kettleborough) how long there was till Lunch, and he told me half an hour. I was struggling a bit then”
“It wasn’t an ideal situation to be in. It was tough. I wasn’t sure of the ruling, I didn’t know you could retire ill, so thought I’ll just get out there and make sure I batted till Lunch. It wasn’t an ideal situation so I just had to make do,” Renshaw was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Renshaw, who has played only five Tests for Australia, also quipped that skipper Steve Smith wasn’t pleased with him galloping off the field, “He wasn’t too thrilled about it, but he understands that when you need to go to the toilet, you’ve got to go to the toilet.”
“He didn’t really understand what was going on at the start, I sort of just ran past him, he didn’t really comprehend what was going on. I told him I needed the toilet. Obviously, we’d just lost a wicket so there would be two new batsmen out there but as I said, it’s a hard scenario to be in and he understood. We’ve had a chat now and we’re all good,” said Renshaw.
Former Australian skipper Allan Border launched a scathing attack on Renshaw deciding to retire to the dressing room, “I hope he’s lying on the table in there half dead. Otherwise, as captain, I would not be happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
“He’s obviously just got an upset stomach to some degree and he was probably trying to use the situation where David Warner had just been dismissed to race off the ground and go to the toilet. I can tell you what, if Shaun Marsh was dismissed in those last 15 minutes I would’ve been ropeable as captain,” Border was quoted as saying.
Renshaw later, returned to the crease. He was the top-scorer for his side with a steely 68 from 156 balls noted that getting on top of Indian spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin proved to be a daunting ask.
He also said that the key to survive relied on spending time at the crease, attributing his success to the preparatory camp before the start of the series, “We were in Dubai for two weeks and had a lot of good preparation on turning wickets over there. It’s quite hard to attack Ashwin, when he can get some to turn past the bat and get some to go straight on.”
“As a left-hander you naturally want the ball turning back into you. I’ve never seen a pitch like that so I just went in with a pretty open mind to try and do what I normally do in Australia, which is try and bat as long as possible and try and wear the bowlers down,” Renshaw was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.