‘My time will come…’,
Cricketer Tilak Verma kept saying this to himself when he had to miss the T20 series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka last year due to injury. By the time Tilak became fit, he had slipped far down in the ICC rankings. Then Tilak was not a part of the preliminary squad for the T20 series against Bangladesh. But after Shivam Dubey got injured, he was included in the team. However, Tilak did not get a chance to play even a single match in that T20 series.
After this, Tilak Verma was selected for the South Africa tour, where he could not do anything special in the first two T20 matches. Tilak then batted at number four. After the second T20 match, Tilak Verma requested captain Suryakumar to send him to bat at number three in the next match. Usually, Suryakumar comes to bat at number three, but he sacrificed his position for Tilak.
This move of Suryakumar Yadav worked. Batting at number three in the Centurion T20 against South Africa, Tilak scored unbeaten 107 runs, which was his first century in international cricket. Then Tilak also played a century (120*) in the next match played in Johannesburg. Regarding this decision, Surya had said, ‘What can I say about Tilak Verma. He came to me, asked me if he could bat at number three. I told them to go and enjoy. I knew what he was capable of and was happy for him.
Whereas Tilak Verma had said about batting at number three, ‘All credit goes to captain Suryakumar Yadav. He gave me a chance at number three. Before the match he had told me that I would bat there. I’m really happy that they gave me that opportunity. I have full confidence in my basics.
Now created a stir with the bat in Chennai T20
Now let us talk about the T20 series between India and England. Suryakumar Yadav batted at number three in the Kolkata T20 against England, but he could not open his account. In that match, Tilak came to bat at number four and scored 19 unbeaten runs. Then in Chennai T20, Surya again decided to send Tilak at number three. This trick of Surya worked again. Tilak led India to victory by playing an unbeaten inning of 72 runs in 55 balls in Chennai T20.
Also read: Tilak Verma’s adventurous innings… Team India’s thrilling win in Chennai T20, England defeated
The way Tilak Verma batted in the Chennai T20 match was quite amazing. Tilak did not lose patience even under pressure and took the team to the door of victory. Tilak has shown with his batting that he is the superstar of the future. If seen, Tilak has scored 318 runs since his last outing in T20 International, which is the highest for any player in the full member team. 22 year old Tilak Verma has played unbeaten innings of 107*, 120*, 19* and 72* runs during this period. Out of this, Tilak scored 299 runs while batting at number three.
Most runs between 2 dismissals in T20I (full member team)
318* Tilak Verma (107*, 120*, 19*, 72*)
271 Mark Chapman (65*, 16*, 71*, 104*, 15)
240 Aaron Finch (68*, 172)
240 Shreyas Iyer (57*, 74*, 73*, 36)
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