Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers has reckoned that Tilak Varma’s batting position will be a big headache for the team management in the forthcoming T20I series against Afghanistan, starting on Sunday, September 13, in Delhi.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former dashing batter reckoned that the Indian team’s balance completely depends on Tilak’s batting order. While he has largely been played as a floater in T20Is, he batted at No.5 on the recent Zimbabwe tour.
“There will definitely be some selection issues with regards to the batters. Obviously, Shreyas, captain, Ishan Kishan, Samson, Sooryavanshi, and then there are all-rounders, Tilak Varma, I think that’s where the balance is quite tricky. Where will he bat?” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
“Really, really strong squad, but the balance will be tricky to figure out. It is T20 cricket, so they can play around with the squad a little bit. There are different roles, but the role clarification will still be incredibly important for India, as they are playing quite a dangerous team,” he added.
Further, the former RCB batter has also showered praise on the teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who will be back in action in the three-match series against Afghanistan, stating that he seems to have 15 years of international experience.
“Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is obviously the big talking point. He’s still a teenager, guys, and scoring runs left, right, and center. It looks like he’s played international cricket for the last 10-15 years. Sky is the limit for him, and I absolutely cannot wait to watch him perform once again,” he noted.
Sooryavanshi has played six T20 International matches for India, scoring 193 runs at a strike rate of 189.22, having made his T20I debut on the recent England tour.
India’s updated squad for Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur
