Following his match-winning knock against England in the second T20I, Indian batter Tilak Varma revealed his strategy while batting with tailenders to chase the remaining 40 runs of the 166-run target and lauded spinner Ravi Bishnoi for his brief cameo of nine runs in five balls, which included two fours.
In one of the best knocks in a T20I run chase by an Indian batter in recent memory, Tilak batted well with tailenders to chase 40 runs out of the 166-run target with immense game awareness and tactical intelligence, helping India secure a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. From 126/7, India sailed to a win with Arshdeep Singh (4) and Ravi (9*) each contributing a partnership of 20 runs.
Speaking on Star Sports’ Cricket Live Show after the game, Tilak said of his strategy during the final few overs, “Actually, I was under a lot of pressure.
Arshdeep was saying, ‘I will hit it. I will hit it. I have to give a single.’ So, I thought, on this wicket, (Jofra) Archer can’t get you out. On this wicket, Adil Rashid will because his ball was moving a lot. I knew that Arshdeep would try to hit the spinner. I said, ‘No, bhai‘,” Tilak revealed.
“If Arshdeep wanted to play, he should play Archer. He said he would not play Archer, so I said, ‘Okay, I will play.’ I told him to be ready with his defence. ‘Whether you get a bouncer or not, you just have to stop him. If you see him behind, bend down.’ So, I do not know what he did. He said, ‘If I get a bouncer, I will hit him from above.’ He said a lot of things. But whatever happened, I am happy that he got a boundary off Archer.
“And the best thing to see was Ravi Bishnoi’s batting. He has done a very good job in nets. He and Varun Chakravarthy did a very good job in batting. I had a lot of faith in both of them that they could play. I told them, ‘If you want to hit, you have to hit in the gaps. If you get a single, there is no problem. If you want to bend down on the bouncer, you have to play like Test cricket.’ So, actually, Ravi Bishnoi played well. If you see, he hit a flick from the front. A lot of credit goes to him too. Those two fours were very important,” he added.
Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Barring skipper Jos Buttler (45 in 30 balls, with two fours and three sixes), the England top order once again was struggling against spin. A couple of useful cameos from Brydon Carse (31 in 17 balls, with a four and three sixes) and wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith (22 in 12 balls, with a four and two sixes) took England to 165/9 in their 20 overs.
Axar Patel (2/32) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/38) caused England the most trouble.
In the run-chase, India suffered setbacks in the first half, as Abhishek Sharma (12), Sanju Samson (4), skipper Suryakumar Yadav (12), Dhruv Jurel (4) and Hardik Pandya (7) perished one by one. Tilak got assistance from Washington Sundar (26 in 19 balls, with three fours and a six), a 38-run partnership that let India cross the 100-run mark from a poor situation of 78/5. After Sundar and Axar (2) perished in quick succession with 40 runs left, Tilak had partnerships with Arshdeep Singh (4) and Ravi Bishnoi (9*) that helped India secure a win with two wickets and four balls left.
Carse’s brilliant spell of 3/29 and a strong spell of 1/14 by spinner Adil Rashid went in vain as India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
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