Tilak has been named the new India T20I vice-captain under Shreyas Iyer's captaincy.
Former India opener and 1983 World Cup winner Kris Srikkanth shared his views on the new-look India T20I squad and singled out Tilak Varma and Washington Sundar for special treatment.
The BCCI announced a new-look T20I squad for the Ireland and England T20Is and the Asian Games 2026, with Shreyas Iyer being named as the new captain and Tilak Varma as vice-captain.
Teenage wonder Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has quickly entered India's plans after a sensational IPL season, but Rinku Singh has fallen out of favour. Rajat Patidar, despite managing RCB to consecutive IPL victories, is outside the national T20 setup.
Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth has issued a harsh appraisal of Tilak, challenging both his recent IPL performances and his suitability for a significant role in India's T20 squad.
Drawing a direct contrast to Patidar, Srikkanth stated that Tilak has the explosive power and match-winning impact required in current T20 cricket, claiming that the Mumbai Indians hitter has failed to produce the type of game-changing innings that Patidar does regularly.
“He is not in form, and he doesn’t have the big-hitting capacity. He is not a tearaway batter. He can play shots, but he can’t demolish attacks like a Phil Salt or Rajat Patidar. Tilak Varma can’t smash the bowling like Rajat Patidar,” he said. “He hasn’t done well for MI in the last two to three IPLs. He can’t take the opposition out of a contest. At his position, he has to play impactful knocks like Patidar," Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
He also shared serious concerns about Washington Sundar and questioned his credentials. He argued that Sundar doesn’t even bowl for his IPL franchise, the Gujarat Titans, and is more of a glorified backup middle-order batter.
“Washington Sundar doesn’t deserve a place in the team. He doesn’t even bowl for GT and is playing as a middle-order batter. So, he is a standby middle-order batter for India, as he’s not bowling at all. He doesn’t bowl for GT and rarely bowls even for India. So it’s a question mark as to how Sundar is a certainty on the side as an all-rounder,” he said.