Tilak Varma starred with the bat as India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the second T20I at Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Saturday (October 24).
Chasing 181 to win on a tricky pitch, the visitors were left reeling at 70/5 in the 11th over. However, Tilak anchored the innings with a brilliant, unbeaten 51 off 26 balls. The vice-captain partnered with Naman Dhir (31 off 17) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (26* off 13) to successfully secure the match for India with just one ball remaining.
Reflecting on his match-winning heroics after collecting the Player of the Match award, Tilak spoke passionately about the tactical backing he received from the management, revealing that head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak explicitly told him if he bats deep, he would win the game for India.
“(What was the mindset after losing 5 wickets) At that stage I was just thinking about playing till the end. Just before today’s game, I was talking with coach Gautam sir and Sitanshu Kotak Sir. I was talking with both of them, and they said one thing that we all believe, and the whole India believes in you. If you stay till the end, then you will win the game for us. So that’s what was going through my mind. I wanted to take the game as deep as possible, and at the end of the day, again, what everyone has believed and have done. So I’m really proud of myself,” Tilak said.
Realizing the pitch was slow, Tilak and Naman purposefully minimized high-risk boundaries against the spinners, opting to push hard into gaps for doubles instead.
“I was telling Naman that we’ll stay till the end, and especially the wicket was slightly slower today, compared to the last game. So I was telling Naman that we’ll push hard in running between the wickets when spinners were bowling. So that’s what our plan was, and we pushed hard when they were bowling, and unfortunately Naman got out in the last over of Mitchell Santner. Otherwise, I think we would have finished the game in 19th over, sorry, 18th over. So credit goes to Naman as well, the way he batted,” he stated.
The southpaw then proudly highlighted shared roots and chemistry between him and Nitish, expressing joy at pulling off the high-pressure chase under tough conditions.
“After that, you know, the Hyderabadi boys are in play today, Nitish Reddy and myself, and we are really happy that we finished the game,” he remarked.
Knowing Christchurch features a large playing area, Tilak and Nitish banked on playing out the spinners and utilizing the true pace of Kiwi fast bowlers in the final overs. Needing 46 runs off 18 balls, they targeted the quicks just as planned, successfully finishing the game in style.
“Definitely there was a plan like that, but we thought that we’ll put that intent when they bowl in our arc. We’ll go. Otherwise, we want to just push it in the gaps and we want to run hard. And we have done that. I think, I think four to five two runs we have got in spinners. So they were really crucial, those eight to ten runs. So I think we played smartly there, and later on we know that we can hit sixes against the fast bowlers. We needed that pace in this huge ground. So we were waiting for that, and we finished off in style,” he concluded.
With this victory, India gained a 2-0 lead in the five-T20I series. The reigning T20 World Champions will look to clinch the series by winning the third match in Wellington on Tuesday (October 27).
