Former India head coach Ravi Shastri was impressed with Mumbai Indians (MI) young batter Tilak Varma's performances in the IPL 2023 and said that he’ll be extremely surprised if the youngster did not play for India in the next six to eight months.
His words came after Tilak Varma played a crucial knock against Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 11 in Delhi.
Promoted to number three, the left-hander scored a crucial 41 off 29 balls and shared a 68-run stand with skipper Rohit Sharma as MI chased down 173 runs target on the last ball of the match.
Varma's 41-run innings included one four and four sixes and dismissal sparked a mini-collapse, with Suryakumar Yadav falling off the next delivery and Rohit Sharma falling soon after.
Then it came down to Cameron Green and Tim David to finish the match, which they did on the last ball of the 20th over of MI innings and gave them a win by 6 wickets.
"India player already. This guy is an Indian player and I would be very surprised if he does not play T20 cricket for India in the next six months or eight months. He has got the maturity, he has got the flare. He will make a world of difference to the Indian middle order," Ravi Shastri said while speaking on Star Sports.
"He is just 20 years of age, the kind of maturity he is showing, is someone who is much older than that. It is very positive, not only from the Mumbai point of view but from the India point of view as well," Shastri added.
This was a crucial win for MI’s morale after losing two matches back-to-back, while Delhi's season deteriorated with their fourth loss in as many games.
MI will next play Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 16 in Mumbai, while DC will face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 15 in Bengaluru.
