MI coach Jayawardene backs under-fire Tilak ahead of RCB clash

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 6 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s clash against Royal Challengers’ Bengaluru (RCB) at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene backed under-fire batter Tilak Varma, saying that he will win them the high-profile clash against Red and Gold side.

Tilak caught plenty of flak for his poor knock of 25 in 23 balls, consisting of just two fours during a run chase of 204 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium. Tilak’s struggles meant he was made to take a tactical “retire out”, and Mitchell Santner was sent to finish the game with skipper Hardik Pandya. MI lost the game by 12 runs.

So far in three innings across four matches, Tilak has made 95 runs at an average of 31.66 with a strike rate of over 113 and best score of 39.

Speaking ahead of the match in the presser, Jayawardene was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo that in the modern game, where things get tactical, it is important to change batting line-ups to match certain bowling types.

“So I do not see how different that is. As a batsman, I have had times where you go to bat and struggle to get through, and they bowl well to you; it is a combination of that. And he batted very well for us in the last three games, in tough situations like we have lost wickets early, and he built those partnerships and got us to situations that we need to,” he said.

Jayawardene said that Tilak’s experience and ability to stitch partnerships is still valued.

“He was trying, and he wasn’t able to get going. So I just felt that it was my decision and to throw someone else to get those two hits and Mitch (Santner had done that in the last few games, he was in decent form. We needed two hits to get to 15 or 20 runs in that last over. So it had nothing to do with Tilak, and I am sure he will walk in here tomorrow and win the match for us. That is who Tilak is for us, and there is a lot of value for him,” he added.

It would be a clash of titans at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as Rohit and Virat, collectively known as ‘Ro-Ko’ will be playing against each other just almost a month after starring in India’s Champions Trophy win. While RCB is placed in the second spot with two wins and a loss and has won both their away games so far against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), MI is at the eighth spot in the table with just one win and three losses. (ANI)