Tilak Varma: the yo-yo man of India's T20 set-up
Tilak Varma steered India to victory over New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday, anchoring a chase of New Zealand’s 180 for five in a T20 international with a 25-ball half-century.
A 23-year-old left-hander and India’s vice-captain in the 20-over format, Tilak has no fixed batting position despite preferring No. 3, from where he has scored both his international centuries. He has not made his Test debut or opened in white-ball internationals, has taken five T20I wickets and, after 68 T20I innings, averages 44.13 with a strike-rate of 147.47.
Tilak’s record in run-chases is notable in the source material: he has remained unbeaten in 26 chases in all T20s, 12 of those in country-versus-country matches, and has finished on the winning side every time. The Hagley Oval game began badly for India, who were 70 for five with Mitchell Santner claiming three wickets, before Tilak walked in earlier at 69 for four, took a single off Santner’s first delivery and saw Axar Patel dismissed next ball, caught at long-on.
With India requiring 111 off 55 deliveries and Naman Dhir and Nitish Kumar alongside him, Tilak paced the chase against New Zealand’s attack, waiting for pace after respecting the spinners. Dhir produced a 31 off 17 cameo before departing; when 46 was needed off the last three overs Tilak accelerated with two fours in the 18th over from Jacob Duffy and three fours and a six in the 19th from Nathan Smith, reducing the target to 11 off the final over and then dispatching Duffy’s second ball for four to effectively seal the win.
Earlier in his recent run of form, Tilak was the match-winner in the T20 Asia Cup final in Dubai in September last year, when India were 20 for three chasing Pakistan’s 146 all out. Batting at No. 4, he added 57 for the fourth wicket with Sanju Samson (24 off 21) and later combined with Shivam Dube; Tilak finished unbeaten on 69 off 53 with three fours and four sixes, hitting a second-ball six off Haris Rauf to settle the contest.
Tilak also starred in the Asian Games final in Nisshin earlier this month, coming in at No. 6 and reaching fifty in 21 balls as India scored 78 runs off the last 35 deliveries; India’s final margin in that match was 19 runs. His immediate recent sequence included lower returns — 7 off 6 at No. 5 in the rain-ruined game against West Indies in Bengaluru and 6 off 11 at No. 3 in Thursday’s first T20I in Christchurch — with his move in the lineup linked to Ishan Kishan’s adductor muscle injury that brought Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into the XI at No. 3.
“I have said before that I want to finish games for the country,” Tilak had said in Bengaluru after the abandoned game. “I love doing that job. For me as an individual, it will be easier batting at No. 3 and finishing games. But Ishan is batting brilliantly at No. 3 and for me now, there is no option but to bat at 5 and 6 and do the job for the team. “I am mentally prepared for that role. I have won a few games from there. As a finisher, most of the times in T20s, you will get a maximum of 5-6 overs to bat, so you have to play your strokes from ball one. I have batted up the order from my childhood, therefore I am confident that whether I bat at 3 and 5, I have got both the techniques where I can adapt (to the demands of each role).”
Given his effectiveness across multiple middle-order positions, the piece notes that a sustained run at No. 3 for Tilak is unlikely in the near term; India now have the opportunity to go 2-0 up in the series with three matches remaining.