Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has heaped praise on the Indian middle-order batter Tilak Varma for being versatile enough to propel India to a thrilling four-wicket win in the second T20I against New Zealand on Saturday, October 24.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan suggested that Tilak could become India’s captain in the future, citing his mental strength, skill set, and versatility to bat at any position in the team’s T20I batting order.
“A versatile player is what comes to mind when it comes to Tilak Varma. His two hundreds have come while batting at No.3. But this unbeaten half-century came while batting down the order. The kind of mindset he has has always impressed me. In the future, Tilak Varma will be leading. Wherever he plays, he will lead this side because he has the leader mindset,” Pathan said.
“In the last game, he got out early, batting at No.3. And he forgot that failure and moved on so quickly in just one day’s time and suddenly won the game. It just doesn’t happen automatically; it needs a lot of mental strength, apart from ability and versatility. It allows him to bat anywhere in the top seven,” he added.
Speaking at the post-match presentation after being named Player of the Match for his unbeaten 51 off 26 balls, including six fours and a six at a strike rate of 196.15, Tilak praised Naman Dhir for his 31-run contribution during the 181-run chase. He also revealed the message he conveyed to Dhir during the middle overs when India faced a challenging phase in the run chase.
“I was telling Naman that we’ll stay till the end, and especially the wicket was slightly slower today compared to the last game. So I was telling Naman that we’ll push hard in running between the wickets when spinners were bowling. So that’s what our plan was, and we pushed hard when they were bowling, and unfortunately Naman got out in the last over of Mitchell Santner. Otherwise, I think we would have finished the game in the 19th over, sorry, the 18th over,” Tilak said at the post-match presentation.
