Tilak Varma recalls Gautam Gambhir’s golden words after India beat England in 2nd T20I, says ‘he said whatever…’

Tilak Varma recalled head coach Gautam Gambhir’s golden words after the left-hander displayed maturity to steer India home against England in a thrilling second T20I at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. Chasing 166 on a tricky wicket, Varma dug deep to hit the winning runs with four balls to spare and two wickets in hand. With this win, India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

With the slow bowlers getting purchase from the wicket, Tilak (72 not out, 55b, 4×4, 5×6) cleverly used the extreme pace of English bowlers to amass runs, and singlehandedly took India past the target.

He was most brutal against Jofra Archer as Tilak plundered four sixes and a four off the England pacer. The left-hander’s inside the line six off pacer Brydon Carse over deep fine leg too was highly impressive.

Interestingly, Tilak has remained unbeaten in his last four innings, which included two back-to-back hundreds against South Africa. His last four innings in T20Is read 72 not out, 19 not out, 120 not out and 107 not out.

Speaking about his secret to success, Tilak remembered the chat he had with Gambhir the previous night. “I was talking with Gautam sir yesterday, he said whatever happens, you should play according to the situation. If team needs ten an over, you should take charge, if something else, you should stand till the end,” said the youngster.

From 58/3, India were soon reduced to 78/5 with Dhruv Jurel and Hardik Pandya going in quick succession. Local boy Washington Sundar put up a fight with a 19-ball 26, but couldn’t sustain a 140 kmph thunderbolt from Brydon Carse as the ball crashed his stumps.

India were 116/6 then. But they found a willing soldier in Tilak. His unbeaten 20-run stand with Ravi Bishnoi also needs special mention as the leg-spinner held his nerve to hit two boundaries that helped a bit.

Speaking about the partnership with Bishnoi, Tilak said the former’s four against Liam Livingstone made the job easier. “I told him to hold his shape and hit the gap. He played a flick and hit a four off Livingstone, that made it a bit easier,” added Tilak.

Suryakumar urges others to learn from Tilak

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav credited Tilak and urged everyone to learn from the latter’s knock. “Good to see we are playing aggressive brand of cricket, at the same time, guys put their hands up and stitched the small partnerships.

“Very happy with the way Tilak batted, something to learn for everyone. Good to see someone take responsibility. Ravi Bishnoi putting the hard work in the nets, he wants to contribute with the bat,” said Suryakumar.