‘Been working with Rahul Sir’: India's rising star reserves special praise for Dravid after IND vs WI 2nd T20I
In his first two international outings, Tilak Varma has impressed and shown that he can acclimatize to the international stage.
While India’s performances in the two losses to open the T20I series against the West Indies have been very disappointing on multiple fronts, there has been one standout positive from the matches so far. In his first two international outings, Tilak Varma has impressed and shown that he can acclimatize to the international stage, adding to his 39(22) in Tarouba with a maiden half-century in the second T20I in Guyana.
The southpaw is a player who has excited Indian fans since his breakthrough as a teenager during the previous year’s IPL, and continued strong performances all across the middle order with the Mumbai Indians earned him a call-up to the international team. With a strong chance to take a place in a batting order that is trying to gear itself towards the future, Tilak’s performances have provided reasons for optimism for fans.
‘Dravid always tells us to follow the basics’
The batter spoke about the exposure to the biggest stage and earning an Indian cap, and how being in the presence of senior players and staff members has been incredibly important for his development and ability to mesh well with the senior team. In particular, he spoke of Rahul Dravid, who was his coach during his spell in the developmental teams, and is now coach of the first team as he breaks through into it as well.
Speaking in a press conference, the 20-year-old credited Dravid, as well as captain on the tour Hardik Pandya. “I have been working with Rahul sir since my U-19 World Cup days,” said Tilak. “He always tells us to follow the basics and spend more time on the wicket.”
“Hardik bhai was also telling me the same. He told me that you have done well in the domestic and the IPL, follow your basics and enjoy your game,” he continued. Batting first, Tilak came in at 18-2 and was tasked with helping rebuild the innings. He set himself a platform with 51(41), but failed to cash in with big runs in the later stages on a slow pitch.
“Wicket was 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,” said Tilak of India’s batting innings. It was a struggle for the Indian batters throughout to score runs at a high rate, and wickets fell at regular intervals to hold them at 152.
In response, West Indies found themselves at 2-2 but rode on the back of a match-winning knock by captain Nicholas Pooran to earn the win and put themselves in prime position to take the series. Although a few late wickets made the match tense, with 25 runs needed and only 2 wickets left, Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph guided their team home.
Tilak will certainly be pleased with his personal performance to a degree, but will want to start contributing in winning causes once the third ODI begins on Tuesday.
