IND v AUS 2023: “I am learning how to finish games from Rinku,” says Tilak Varma ahead of second T20I

Rinku Singh took India over the finishing line in the first T20I against Australia.

After his stunning exploits in the IPL 2023 season, Rinku Singh was rewarded a place in India’s squad for the T20I tour of Ireland and the Hangzhou Asian Games. The southpaw did reasonably well in the lower middle-order to retain his place in the national side.

On Thursday (November 23), Rinku performed a brilliant finishing job as he played a crucial cameo of 22* in 14 balls to help India chase a massive target of 209 with one delivery remaining in the first T20I against Australia in Visakhapatnam.

Impressed with his finishing ability, India’s young batter Tilak Varma on Saturday (November 25) said that he is learning how to close T20 matches from Rinku Singh.

"I am learning how to finish games from Rinku as he is doing it consistently for India. I also want to do and hopefully in coming matches I will be doing that," Tilak said on the eve of India's second T20I against Australia in Thiruvananthapuram.

"There is no pressure of expectation on me. I just have a role and I have to fulfil that role for the team. My role at No. 5 is, if it's in my arc, I will go for it or else just rotate strike," he added.

The left-hander then explained what he was asked to do in the last game. "Last match, in that situation a leg-spinner was bowling, I wanted to take charge as we needed 10 per over in that situation, so it was decided I will go at the leg-spinner and for fast bowler, settled batsman Surya bhai was batting," he said.

While his main aim is to stay consistent, Tilak also said that he hasn't worked on any specific areas during the time the senior team was busy playing the ODI World Cup.

"Before this series, I played in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy and my performance was good and I was confident, so I haven't worked in any specific areas but aim is to continue the good form," he said.

Tilak enjoys playing under Suryakumar Yadav and also hailed his skipper's performance (80 off 42 balls) in the opening T20I.

"I have already played under Suryakumar Yadav. In IPL, he captained one match for Mumbai Indians. He is very calm and clear in his thoughts, he did very good captaincy and in the last match, played in tough situation, he managed well," he remarked.

Asked how the team is looking at Sunday's second T20I, Tilak replied: "We just want to go with the flow and take it one game at a time."

(With PTI Inputs)