Young batter Tilak Varma got his maiden India call-up for West Indies T20Is on Wednesday, as a reward for his couple of impressive seasons in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians. The Hyderabad-born batter became an integral part of the Mumbai Indians set-up at a very young age as he played several match-winnings knocks for them.
The All India Selection Committee announced the India squad for the T20I series against West Indies on Wednesday as Varma was picked amongst the 15 players.
The Mumbai Indians youngster impressed many in the 2023 season and scored 343 runs in 11 matches at a decent average of 42.88. After missing a few matches, he made a superb 43 runs off 14 balls in the second qualifier to rebuild Mumbai Indians’ chase after they suffered early blows.
MI identified Tilak as a player for the future and spent big money on him during IPL 2022 mega auction and signed him for Rs 1.7 crore.
The southpaw made an impact in his debut season by scoring 397 runs in 14 matches. Captain Rohit Sharma has often lauded Tilak for his batting and called him a star Indian player for the future and he finally got the chance to make a big step in his career.
Born on November 8, 2022, Tilak was part of the triumphant Indian team that won the U-19 ODI World Cup in 2020, recalled his early days when he had to wait for basic things.
“My father never says ‘no’ to anything. He used to say that it will happen, but due to lack of money, he could not afford many things. I broke my bat once. So he said that he would buy a new one, but could not buy it for a long time,” he told IANS in past.
“I then continued to play with the same broken bat. With the broken bat I made the highest runs in U-16 cricket. When my coach saw this, he bought me everything I needed. Whatever I am today is due to my Coach sir,” he said.
He has scored 1418 runs in 47 T20s thus far in his career at an average of 37.31. While smashed 1236 runs in 25 List A matches.
India’s T20I squad: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
Comments
0 comment