Ignited by the flames of victory in the first T20 against England, India’s Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson came to the crease for an emphatic run chase. Abhishek Sharma looked in good touch as he scored 3 boundaries but was wrapped on the pads by Mark Wood. Tilak Varma was quite fearless in his approach despite the pacers bowling more than 140 km/hr deliveries.
Sanju Samson was beaten for pace by Archer and was caught in the deep by Brydon Carse. Tilak Varma saw another huge blow as the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for 12 by Brydon Carse. Dhruv Jurel followed his walk to the pavilion. Hardik Pandya who shined with the ball nicked the first ball of James Overton and was caught behind by Phil Salt. All of a sudden, the hosts were in a spot of bother at 78-5 in 9.1 overs chasing 167 runs target.
Tilak Varma: The Lone Warrior
Usually, Tilak Varma would not play an anchor role as his natural game is to hit the ball hard and send it away to the stands. This time as the Indian side tumbled, he decided to anchor the innings throughout. He made room for Archer’s 5th line ball in the fifth over and with full bat swing scored a beautiful boundary in the covers. Again in the second over, he picked the line and length of Archer and flicked it effortlessly to the square leg for a well-timed six.
He smacked the bouncer of Brydon Carse to the fine leg region for a maximum. This shot made him look unstoppable! Meanwhile, Archer looked confused when he was hit thrice over the head of Phil Salt. Tilak Varma used the pace of Jofra Archer against him and even made him laugh at his misfortune.
Tilak Varma stayed like a lone wolf and shouldered the innings throughout. He saw his pack getting hunted and so he stuck to the crease like a rock. He started playing classic late cuts to Aadil to stay up in the chase. Arshdeep too went for the setup and got out to Adil Rashid mistiming the ball to the deep-midwicket region in the 17th over and opened the game for England. India’s score at the end of 17 overs was 146-8 needing another 21 runs to win.
Ravi Bishnoi came to bat and certainly eased the pressure of Tilak Varma by hitting two fours against Brydon Carse in 18th & against Liam Livingstone in 19th over. Tilak Varma finished the game in style by hitting a cover drive though he was denied the victory in the previous ball by an impossible save by Livingstone but it wasn’t enough for English side to win the contest.
Tilak Varma’s heroics would remain forever etched in the Chepauk crowd’s memory not just for hitting those cracking maximums against Archer but for staying till the end to take India Home in one of the classic run chases of all time.
A true warrior who can play swashbuckling knocks and also defend his fortress when the country needs him as a lone wolf.
Also Read: IND vs ENG: Varun Chakravarthy: The Mysterious ComeBack