Sunil Gavaskar is impressed with the talented 19-year-old youngster of Mumbai Indians, Tilak Varma, who has been one of the few positives in the five-time IPL champions' in their rather forgettable campaign in IPL 2022.
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Former India captain turned veteran commentator Sunil Gavaskar is impressed with the talented 19-year-old youngster of Mumbai Indians, Tilak Varma, who has been one of the few positives in the five-time IPL champions’ in their rather forgettable campaign in IPL 2022. The Rohit Sharma-led side is currently placed last on the points table, but Varma has stepped up on every occassion with the bat, averaging nearly 41 in the 12 games he has been featured so far in his debut season for Mumbai Indians as well. Notably, Mumbai Indians bought him for Rs 1.7 crore in the mega auction of IPL 2022.
However, Gavaskar also stated that the young left-hand batter from Hyderabad, who has so far featured in just 15 T20 games, has good cricketing brains and he could be an all-format India batter in future too as well. Notably, he was a member of India’s U-19 World Cup squad in 2020 as well. His IPL contract came on the back of a stunning season. Moreover, a competitive bidding competition took place among Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for him as well.
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However, Tilak Varma has so far amassed 368 runs in IPL 2022, with a highest of 61 and has remained unbeaten on three times as well. The left-hander’s big-hitting ability has also come into the limelight as he has smashed 27 boundaries and 15 sixes while coming into the bat in the middle order.
“Tilak Varma’s temperament (in IPL 2022) has been fantastic. In his knock against Chennai Super Kings, he walked into the middle when the team was under pressure. But the way he dealt in ones and twos (early on) was impressive. He played a wide range of shots and kept rotating the strike. This shows that he has a good cricketing head on his shoulders, and I think that’s important. Once you have that good cricketing brain, you will be able to lift yourself when things are not going your way. You can analyse yourself and get back to scoring runs,” said Sunil Gavaskar on Cricket Live, Star Sports.
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The veteran has also praised the young batter for having the basics right and agreed with Rohit Sharma’s observation that he could be an all-format India batter in the future. “He’s got the basics right. Technically he’s right. He gets right behind the line of the ball. He’s got a straight bat, and while defending on the front foot his bat is close to the pad. So, all his basics are right. With all the right basics you’ve got to marry the temperament and that marriage we have seen is very good at the moment. I hope that he carries on. Rohit Sharma rightly mentioned that he could be an all-format player for India. So now it’s up to him to work that little bit extra, get his fitness going, get a little tighter as far as the technique is concerned and prove Rohit right,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.
