Even though India succumbed to a 2-wicket defeat against West Indies in the second T20I of the five-match series at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Sunday (August 6), there were a few positives for the visiting side despite them now trailing 0-2 in the series. The brightest spark for the Hardik Pandya-led side was the way in which Tilak Varma batted. While he had impressed in the series opener as well, playing just his second international match, Varma registered his maiden half-century, scoring 51 off 41 deliveries.
Post reaching the landmark though, the left-handed put out a unique celebration keeping his bat under his arm to do a thumbs up gesture with both hands. Later, Varma revealed that his action was for India captain Rohit Sharma's daughter Samaira who is known as Sammy affectionately.
"It was all about Sammy, Rohit bhai’s daughter. Our relationship is very good. I had told her that whenever I score a hundred or a fifty for India, I’ll do it as a celebration. We both play with each other like that," Tilak said after the match. The 20-year-old echoed captain Hardik Pandya's views and suggested that it was the batting department which let the team down for the second match in a row. He reckoned that the tourists were 10 runs short after choosing to bat first when they posted 152/7.
"Wicket was a bit on the slower side and it was double-paced as well. We thought anything between 150-160 will be a good score. I guess at the end we were 10 runs short," he said.
In the run-chase, Nicholas Pooran's attacking display kept West Indies in the driver's seat. Post his wicket though, the home team witnessed a dramatic batting collapse going from 126/4 to 129/8 but Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph helped them get over the line in the end. The two teams will lock horns in the third T20I at the same venue on Sunday (August 8) in what will be a must-win fixture for India if they want to remain alive in the series.