NEW DELHI: Harleen Deol let her bat do the talking after being controversially retired out during UP Warriorz's match against Delhi Capitals in the Women's Premier League (WPL). She was on 47 off 36 balls, striking at 130.56, when coach Abhishek Nayar signalled her to walk back to the pavilion.

Harleen responded in emphatic fashion in the very next game against Mumbai Indians, coming out all guns blazing with an unbeaten 64 off 39 balls. Her knock powered UP Warriorz to a seven-wicket win, their first victory of the season.

Harleen was adjudged Player of the Match for her decisive innings and said afterward that the victory was hugely significant for the team.

"Feels good, happy for the team for the first win. Actually yesterday too I was batting well. As you saw today, how Chloe (Tryon) can change the scenario. I just took it that way. She's someone who can hit big but that didn't go our way. That's how I look at it," Deol said.

"Nothing different today. I just got a few boundary balls, sometimes it's just your day. Normal prep for me, I was batting well yesterday also, no point to keep stressing on that thing (retired out). First two games didn't go my way. I was overhitting earlier. This wasn't the wicket to do that," she added.

Nayar defends his decision

Nayar defended the call to retire out Harleen, explaining that it was a pre-planned tactical move rather than a decision taken on the spur of the moment.

"It wasn't like a very spontaneous decision," Nayar said. "The conversation started around the 12th over, when we first sent a message to Meg [Lanning] while they were batting together, and we felt what was the right time to get our power hitters in, that was a thought process. Post the timeout, Meg and Harleen decided to have a go. At that point, we had already communicated to Harleen that if we don't get going till the 16th or 17th over, we will look for a change.

"That communication had started way before [we asked her to retire out]. I know from the outside it feels like, oh damn, what happened. But we started that [conversation] around the 12th over. When it reached the 17th over, we just felt we have the power, so we wanted to make sure we gave them the opportunity in the game. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

"In hindsight, the whole team felt like that was the right decision. So there wasn't much of a conversation post that because the buildup was already there. She knew what the team was doing, Post that, there was nothing actually. Because there was nothing wrong or there was nothing that she didn't expect was going to happen. She was told about that being a possibility if we get there."