Nearly 14 months after he first played an IPL match for Mumbai Indians, Tilak Varma realised his dream of representing India when when made his T20I debut earlier this week. Having drawn rich praises from all quarters thanks to his string of impressive performances in the past two seasons of IPL, Tilak is now hoping to replicate that at international level and left quite an impression in his maiden outing.
India may have failed to chase down 150 in the first T20I against West Indies on Thursday but Tilak made a promising start to his India career with an entertaining 22-ball 39, an innings that featured two fours and three gorgeous sixes.
In a chat with his India and IPL teammate Ishan Kishan, the 20-year-old admitted he will be a bit nervous in his maiden international assignment but his plan is to play around his strengths.
“West Indies is a very good side in T20. My plan is to play around my strengths, want to stick to basics. This is my first series, so want to give my 100 per cent. I will be a bit nervous but want to give my best. I spoke to Rahul sir during practice that if I end up losing my wicket while giving my best, that’s fine,” Tilak said in a video shared by BCCI.
In his first IPL season, Tilak scored 397 runs in 14 innings – the second highest for his franchise after Ishan’s 418. He proved that it wasn’t a fluke by another superb show earlier this year with 343 runs from 11 innings.
“In the first year (of IPL), you are under pressure to do well. You know to get more chances, you have to prove yourself and I played with that mindset. Of course, every player hopes to play for India one day but I wasn’t thinking about it back then. I got the call only after playing well,” said Tilak.
Emotions after maiden call-upGiving percent with the batFavourite song We caught up with #TeamIndia Debutant @TilakV9 before the start of the #WIvIND T20I series
WATCH his full conversation with @ishankishan51 – By @ameyatilak https://t.co/vqZG1Kabwx pic.twitter.com/5a405KR3kP
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 6, 2023
Ishan then touched upon the number of tattoos Tilak has gotten and hilariously yelled, “Humein jawab chahiye! (We need answers)”
“I wanted to get tattoos since kid and it wasn’t allowed back then. So I asked my coach who told me to do stay focus, reach a level and then go for it,” Tilak responded.
Tilak recalled the moment when he first found out about his India call-up.
:I called my coach and family. I wanted to talk more but my parents got emotional, were crying so I didn’t speak for long,” said Tilak.
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