IND vs NZ: Tilak Varma reveals what Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak told him before 2nd T20I: ‘If you stay till…’
India’s Tilak Varma starred in his team’s four-wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20I in Christchurch on Saturday, slamming an unbeaten 51 runs from 26 deliveries. This knock, however, wasn’t an easy one for Tilak as he walked out to bat when India were in a spot of bother a 70/5 in the 11th over following the dismissal of Axar Patel.
The Men in Blue had been set a target of 181, and a formidable partnership was the need of the hour. That is where Tilak stepped in. He first forged a 42-run stand with Naman Dhir for the sixth wicket, before going onto forge an unbeaten 69-run partnership with Nitish Kumar Reddy.
“At that stage (When India were five down) I was just thinking about playing till the end,” Tilak, who won the Player of the Match award on Saturday, said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Just before today’s game, I was talking with coach Gautam sir and Sitanshu Kotak sir, and they said one thing that we all believe and the whole India believes in you. If you stay till the end, then you will win, you’ll win the game for us.
‘Wanted to take the game deep’: Tilak
“That was in my mind and I wanted to take the game as deep as possible. At the end of the day, I have done what everyone believed. So I’m really proud of myself,” he explained.
The 23-year-old stated that had Dhir not been dismissed, the match would have been done and dusted by the 18th over. Dhir was dismissed in the 15th over, which left India in trouble at 112/6. “I was telling Naman that we’ll stay till the end and especially we can go slightly slower today compared to last game,” he said.
“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. We have 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 18th over. So yeah, the credit goes to Naman as well, the way he batted,” he added.
The Men in Blue will look to seal the five-match T20I series with two games to spare, when the third T20I takes place in Wellington on Tuesday.
