Tilak Varma has been the biggest positive for Team India during their ongoing five-match T20I series against West Indies. With three matches completed, the series reads 2-1 in the hosts’ favour however Tilak in his debut international outing currently leads the scoring charts, which is an incredible feat for a 20-year-old.
In the do-or-die third match at Providence Stadium in Guyana, Tilak played another composed knock of 49 runs, he started aggressively but as soon as Suryakumar Yadav brought his A game to the fore, the youngster played an anchor’s role just as adeptly.
While Surya got dismissed at 83, Tilak remained unbeaten at 49, and Indian captain Hardik Pandya’s last ball six denied the youngster a chance to complete his fifty, a gesture which hasn’t gone down well with former India opener Aakash Chopra.
The cricketer-turned-commentator felt that Tilak was denied a chance to score his second fifty in three games as Hardik finished the game with 13 balls to spare. Chopra also added that Pandya himself was heard telling Tilak that he must finish the game and return not out but the captain himself tried to go for the big hits in the 17th over to finish the game.
“Tilak Varma, outstanding. First Indian to get 30+ scores in his first three international innings. He scored a fifty in his previous games and was close to another this time too, in fact, it should’ve been a fifty,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
The former India cricketer added, “Hardik comes to bat, tells him it’s important to remain not out, don’t get carried away. Then Hardik hits aggressive hits… you don’t need NRR, it would’ve made no difference. He told Tilak to go easy, but tried to hit big shots himself.”
“You needed 2 runs off 13 balls, and he smashed a six. I’m sure they want to build a culture that doesn’t care about individual milestones. But even a not out doesn’t really matter here, even if you were out there, you still had 12 balls there to score 2 runs. Tilak was denied a chance to score a fifty. That’s just my opinion, though,” Chopra stated further.
In the end, Hardik, SKY and Tilak’s heroics helped India chase down the required target of 160 with 13 balls to spare as they registered a 7-wicket win over the Caribbean side.
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