Thick, black shoulder-length hair, a stud on the left ear; a tall and wiry frame. When Tilak Varma stood with his arms aloft after taking a huge leap of joy, it was as if a warrior character from one of SS Rajamouli’s blockbusters had come alive.
The bat and the helmet almost positioned like a sword and a shield only added to the theatre as he stood facing India’s dressing room at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. His teammates would stand and applaud, letting the 22-year-old soak in the moment before skipper Suryakumar Yadav walked in and bowed to Varma. The day’s match-winners returned the gesture.
The unbeaten 72 from Varma wasn’t even his career-best. During the recent tour of South Africa he had already scored two scintillating centuries to show the world that he is part of India’s T20 future. But more than those two hundreds, there was something more to this knock against England. Not since this team under Suryakumar and Gautam Gambhir has come together have they played on a more challenging deck than this. Not even in Sri Lanka did they come across a two-paced pitch like they encountered at Chepauk.
India’s captain Surya Kumar Yadav, right, gestures as chief coach Gautam Gambhir looks on during the practice session ahead of their first T20 match against England, in Kolkata, India, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
India’s batting in T20s has been breathtaking off-late, full of intent with all batsmen looking to attack from the first ball. They have manufactured shots out of deliveries that they previously had shown restraint to. This is a team that is liberated now. But there was this one underlying question as to how they would respond should the conditions not let them free their arms as often as they like to. Such surfaces keep coming up every now and then, especially at the ICC events.
Boundary-less phases
And on Saturday when such a pitch was rolled out, none showed that they can go back to the old style, except Varma. He hasn’t been part of the old set-up that knows how to take such games deeper by showing controlled aggression. In such games, it is often two or three big overs that tend to do the job instead of sustained aggression. Varma isn’t used to those situations, yet when he came face-to-face with it, the left-hander didn’t blink. An unbeaten 72 from 55 deliveries, though at a sedate strike rate of 130.90, saved the day for India. Nine balls without a boundary, then another boundary-less set of 14 balls and then another 14 in the death overs, Varma didn’t go hammer and tongs during a mature innings.
“I know I can play both types of innings,” Tilak said in the press conference. “I can hit with a good strike rate and also at 6 or 7 (an over), I can bat at a higher strike rate. That is what I have discussed with Gautam sir in the last match. He said that you can play with a good strike rate over 10 also and below 10 also. When the team requires, you should be flexible and I got the chance to prove it in this game,” he added.
With India losing wickets in the middle-overs, Varma by now was prepared to take the game deep. The explosive openers Sanju Samson, Abhishek Varma, captain Suryakumar Yadav, Dhruv Jurel and Hardik Pandya were back in the dugout by the 10th over, and over half the target still to get.
India’s Tilak Varma plays a shot during the second T20 cricket match between India and England at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
When Gambhir came out for the drinks break, he would spell out his plans. “I said that I will be playing till the end. And that is what Gautam sir also said during the drinks break. He said that it is a time that you can show the people that you can play both the innings. So, I said that whatever happens I will be staying till the end and I want to finish the game,” Varma said.
On such nights calculative risks had to be taken and the right bowlers had to be picked to go after. On a two-paced surface, he identified Jofra Archer’s pace could work to his favour. So he brought out a fierce cut and then played the shot of the game, by getting on the knee and casually swatted the fast-bowler over long leg for a six. In the same over, a 90-mile missile would disappear over the keeper’s head for another six. But with wickets falling, Varma had to be cautious.
Varma would pick the odd boundary here and there. But when Archer came back to bowl in the 16th over with all other regular batsmen back in the hut, he would take on the fast bowler again with two sixes. “If you see, I want to target the best bowlers. If you take on their best bowlers, other bowlers will be under pressure. So, even when the wickets are falling, I want to take on their best bowler. It’s easier for the batsman at the other end also. So I backed myself and I took chances against him. And also whatever shots I have scored off Archer, I have worked in the nets. Mentally I was ready for that. So, it has given me a good result,” Varma said.
Towards the end of the chase when Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi were in the middle, Varma had to shield the strike and showed the maturity to bat out the overs rather than go for glory shots. Varma showed through the course of the knock that he has come of age as India pulled-off a famous win.
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