India’s young batter Tilak Varma made his debut for the Indian team during the first T20I game against the West Indies on Thursday. He looked confident when he came out to bat and did not feel like he is playing his first international game. He took on pacer Alzarri Joseph on the second ball of his innings, hitting a six over deep square leg. Tilak followed it up and once again cleared the mid-wicket boundary with ease for the second six. The Hyderabad-based batter made 39 off just 22 deliveries. He also grabbed a brilliant catch to dismiss Johnson Charles.
Despite Tilak’s brilliant knock, West Indies managed to pull off a heist by winning the game by four runs on Thursday as the visitors failed to pursue the modest 150-run target. The 20-year-old batter had a great last IPL for Mumbai Indians where he collected 343 runs. As a result, he earned an India call-up for the ongoing T20I series against West Indies.
“From childhood, it has been my goal to win India the World Cup. In my mind, I always think about ways how to win the World Cup. I keep visualising everyday that I will go and bat in this number and win World Cup,” he said.
“Now I got the India jersey and I used to visualise, but now, it has come true, so I feel that moment (of winning World Cup) will also come soon. This is a great feeling, I can’t express it, everyone asks me but I am just feeling really happy and proud. So taking it step by step, let’s see how it happens.”
Talking about his batting in the last game, two of his sixes came in the first three balls he faced from Alzarri Joseph. His inning came to an end on the last ball of the 11th over when he was caught at fine leg by Hetmyer. Apart from Tilak, skipper Hardik Pandya (19), Axar Patel 13), and Singh (12) also contributed in the middle. For West Indies, Holder starred with the ball and ended the game with figures of 2-19 from his four overs and was named man of the match.