In a do-or-die game in the third T20I against West Indies on Tuesday, the Indian team played exceptionally well and ended up keeping the series alive by winning the game. It was Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kuldeep Yadav who helped India seal the game. Young batter Varma once again stood there in the middle and smashed 49* off 37 balls, stitching an important partnership with Suryakumar (83) and skipper Hardik Pandya (20*).
The Hyderabad-based batter has been a great batter in the T20Is for Mumbai Indians as well. His attacking style of play against the best of bowlers has been widely lauded.
One of the incidents that transpired during the game that caught everyone's attention was when Pandya was spotted giving a pep-talk to Varma when he was batting on 44 off 32 balls and India needed 12 off 23. "Tereko especially khatam karna hai, rukna hai. Gendo ka fark padta hai (You have to stay there and finish the game. The number of balls faced makes a difference," Hardik Pandya was heard saying in the stump mic.
Veteran player Ravichandran Ashwin also gave a hint that Varma can be a good answer for India’s contingency plans for the ODI World Cup.
"This is neck-and-neck with respect to the World Cup. So, will they think about Tilak Varma as an option if we don't have enough backups? Because Sanju Samson has performed really well in ODIs. But the exciting part about Tilak Varma is that he is a left-hander and Team India is lacking left-handers. Jaddu (Jadeja) is the only left-handed batter in the top 7," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, the Indian opening pair of Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill reached career-best ranking after the latest ODI lis was put out on Wednesday. Gill climbed two spots to stand at the fifth position overall and while Kishan took a big jump of nine places to 36th overall.