“Tilak Varma, one for the future” Hardik Pandya lauds youngster as IND lose 1st T20I Vs WI
Indian Skipper Hardik Pandya was all praise for Tilak Varma, who made his much awaited T20I India debut during a 4-run loss against West Indies last night. Team India are currently in the last phase of their successful Tour to Carribean Islands, winning the Test and ODI series.
“Very pleasing to see the way he started his innings. Not a bad way to start your International cricket with a couple of sixes. There’s confidence and fearlessness they have. He is going to do wonders for India.” – Pandya praised Tilak.
The first match of their final assignment before the tour to Ireland and Asia Cup 2023 did not get off to the best of starts. West Indies had won the toss and batted first at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium. While opening for the hosts, opening pair of Brandon King got going and scored 28 off 19 but Kyle Mayers departed for 1.
Then through the efforts of Nicholas Pooran (41) and Rovman Powell (48), West Indies posted an unsafe target of 150. In response, Indian openers Ishan kishan and Shubman Gill collapsed for 6 & 3 with Surya Kumar Yadav getting out for a run a ball of 21.
Takes a blinder.
Hits back to back sixes to kick off his innings.
A dashing debut for Tilak Varma 😎#INDvWIAdFreeonFanCode #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/VpcKOyfMSR— FanCode (@FanCode) August 3, 2023
India needed a reliable batter and thats when Tilak Varma walked out. He smacked back to back sixes in his 2nd and 3rd ball of International cricket. He was also India’s highest scorer with his 39 off 22 balls but it just wasn’t enough for a Win.
Varma gave his wicket while pulling Romario Shepherd’s slower short pitched ball towards Deep point. After that Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson tried to fight back but West Indies took quick wickets and eventually won by 4 runs Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd taking 1, 2, 2 & wickets respectively.
Following the loss, Hardik Pandya did not let the loss faze him even for a bit. He admitted that the team is young and it is normal for them to make a few mistakes and said that the team will grow together.
“We were right in the chase and quite comfortable there. We made some errors which cost us the game which is fine. A young team will make mistakes. We will grow together. Throughout the game, we were in control of the game which was the positive in this game.”
“Good four games coming ahead. In T20 cricket, if you lose wickets, it becomes difficult to chase down any total, that’s exactly what happened. A couple of hits can change the momentum towards you. When we lost a couple of wickets, that halted our chase.”
