India’s young batter Tilak Varma has impressed one and all with his consistency in his debut T20I series against the West Indies.
While the Men in Blue lost the first two T20Is, the southpaw managed to grab the headlines with his performances. Tilak scored 39 off 22 balls in the series opener and followed it with a maiden T20I half-century (51 off 41 balls) in the second match.
The stylish left-hander continued his brilliance in the third T20I as he remained unbeaten on 49 off 37 balls to take India over the line at Providence Stadium, Guyana.
Impressed with his maturity and confidence, former India opener Wasim Jaffer has batted for Tilak Varma's inclusion in the ODI side ahead of the Asia Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup later this year.
"In these three innings, there was no one else as mature, consistent and assured in his strokeplay than Tilak Varma. He is very young and for him to come out and bat in certain situations, an absolute delight to see. He came out with the rain coming in and there were talks that it might go to Duckworth-Lewis," said Jaffer in a video posted by ESPNCricinfo.
"He came out and attacked the first 2-3 balls. It goes on to show how tuned in he is with the team's demand and the game sense that he has got. That is very refreshing to see. Then how he controlled the innings with Suryakumar Yadav going hammer and tongs from the other end, he played his part so beautifully. He finished the game. It is so nice seeing a young guy finish the game," he added.
Jaffer further stated that he won’t be surprised to see Tilak if KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer fail to regain fitness ahead of the Asia Cup and the World Cup.
"If at all India needs a batter to look at in 50 overs, I would not be surprised if it's Tilak Varma. The kind of maturity that he has shown, I will be happy to see him coming into the ODI mix also. There are talks that Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are not ready yet. Why not throw in a youngster like Tilak Varma? He has shown a lot of maturity and [gives] that left-hander option. We have been looking for a top-order left-hander. Why not Tilak Varma?," he concluded.
Notably, Tilak Varma boasts a fairly impressive record in List A cricket as well. The 20-year-old has played 25 games so far, amassing 1236 runs at an average of 56.18 with five hundreds and as many half-centuries.
