The 22-year-old Indian National Cricket Team left-hander Tilak Varma played a fantastic knock 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 saw the Men in Blue to victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai on Saturday 25th January.
Also read: ‘I am very happy with Tilak Varma’s batting’ – Suryakumar Yadav admires the youngster
Tilak Varma destroys the England national team
India were given a target of 166 runs to chase down in the second T20I by the Three Lions. It was an achievable score as the surface in Chennai was quite conducive to batting.
At the mid-innings break, Indian all-rounder Axar Patel was confident that they would end the run chase very easily, but it was not to be.
India lost both openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma early in the innings and Suryakumar Yadav’s poor form continued. Dhruv Jurel also got a low score and so did Hardik Pandya.
England were all hosts and it looked like they were going to take the game away from India. But Tilak Varma did not allow it.
The young left-hander stood firm at one end and played to the occasion. He made sure the scoring rate was good and his brilliant partnership of 38 brought India back into the game.
After losing Sundar, Tilak Varma batted well with the seamers and took his team across the finish line. He ended with 72* runs off 55 balls, 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 man of the match award and while speaking to the host revealed that head coach Gautam Gambhir asked him to play according to the situation. He said:
“The wicket was a bit two-paced. I was talking to Gautam sir yesterday, he asked me to play according to the situation.”
Speaking about the batting position, he said that they will continue with the left-right combination in the team, so he is happy to bat in the 3rd or 4th positions. Tilak Varma also talked about the important contributions of Ravi Bishnoi with the bat. Tilak Varma said:
“The left-right combination will be good because it will be difficult for the bowlers to adapt. We played harder in South Africa anyway. We prepared well in the nets and this is the result.
“I told him (Bishnoi) to keep his form and look at batting in the gap. One against the fast bowler and four against Livingston, it was extraordinary. It made it easy to finish the game.”
Tilak – Great innings by Wasim Jaffer
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer was impressed with Tilak’s knock in the second T20I against England and he went to X to praise the knock. Jaffer praised the batsman for staying cool and calm in the middle and guiding India to victory.
“Great innings by Tilak. From 78/5 Ind got going again, kept his cool till the end. 19 runs off 16th bowled by Jofra Archer was the turning point. Great performance @TilakV9 👏🏻 #INDvENGi,” Senior domestic cricketer X wrote in
Excellent innings by Tilak. Ind departed from 78/5, kept his cool till the end. 19 runs off the 16th over bowled by Jofra Archer was the turning point. He played well @TilakV9 👏🏻 #IQTIF pic.twitter.com/k1mgVFUbeJ
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) January 25, 2025
