The 22-year-old Indian National Cricket Team pacer Tilak Varma batted brilliantly for his team in the second T20I of the five-match series against the England national cricket team.
Tilak Varma's exceptional knock with the bat ensured that the Men in Blue registered a win at the Ma Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai on Saturday, 25 January.
Read also: “Very happy with the way Tilak Varma batted” – Suryakumar Yadav is in awe of the youngster
Tilak Varma is destroying bowlers in England
India were given a target of 166 runs to chase down the second T20i by the Three Lions. It was a viable score because the deck in Chennai had enough help for the helpers.
During the innings break, Axar Patel, India's pacer, was confident that they would complete the chase very easily, but that did not happen.
India lost both openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma early in the innings and Suryakumar Yadav's poor form continued. Dhruv Jurel also got out for a low score, as did Hardik Pandya.
England were all over the hosts and looked set to take the game away from India. However, Tilak Varma did not allow this.
The young left-handed batsman stood strong at one end and played according to the situation. He made sure that the scoring rate was good, and his brilliant 38-run partnership got India back into the game.
After his loss to Sundar, Tilak Varma fought well with the Tailenders and took the team past the finish line. He finished with 72* runs off 55 balls, with 4 fours and 5 sixes as India won the match by 2 wickets.
Gautam Gambhir asked me to play according to the situation – Tilak Varma
Tilak Varma won the match award and spoke to the presenter who revealed that head coach Gautam Gambhir had asked him to play according to the situation. He stated:
“The wicket was a bit off. I was talking to Gautam sir yesterday, he asked me to play according to the situation.”
While talking about his batting stance, he said that they will continue with the left-right combination in the team and hence, he is happy to bat at No. 3 or No. 4. Tilak Varma also spoke about Ravi Bishnoi's crucial contribution with the bat. Tilak Varma said:
“Left-right will be a good combination as it will be difficult for the bowlers to set. We have already played in South Africa where it was more difficult. We prepared well in the nets and here is the result.”
“I told him (Bishnoi) to hold the shape and look to get to the gap. A flick against the fast bowler and a four against Livingstone, that was extraordinary. That made it easy to finish off the game.”
Excellent roles of Tilak – Wasim Jaffer
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer was impressed with the way Tilak batted in the second T20i against England, and went to the X to praise the batter. Gaffer praised the batsman for staying cool and calm in the middle overs and guiding India to victory.
“Excellent innings from Tilak. Got back on track from 78/5, kept his cool till the end. Taking 19 runs off the 16th over over Jofra Archer was the turning point. Well played @tilakv9 👏🏻 #indvengi,” the local cricket big wrote. On X.
Excellent innings from Tilak. I got the ind on track of 78/5, and kept him cool until the end. Taking 19 runs from the 16th over bowled by Jofra Archer was the turning point. well played @tilakv9 👏🏻 #sowing pic.twitter.com/k1mgvfubej
– Wasim Jaffer (@wasimjaffer14) January 25, 2025
