Cricket Twitter Reactions

'1 half century aie ni sb start ho gaya he is the Yuvi' - Fans react as Ravichandran Ashwin says Tilak Varma's game resembles Rohit Sharma's

Ravichandran Ashwin said Tilak Varma's game resembles Rohit Sharma's after the 20-year-old's impressive batting in the first two T20Is.

author-image
Daniel S
New Update
Ravichandran Ashwin & Tilak Varma

Ravichandran Ashwin & Tilak Varma (Source: Twitter)

Team India's rising star Tilak Varma is slowly establishing a name for himself in the international arena with just two matches. The young sensation proved his mettle in the Indian Premier League and continued his stellar form in the first two T20Is against West Indies. When the rest of the batters struggled to get going on a tough batting pitch, the 20-year-old found runs without showing any nervousness of a debutant.

Having scored 90 runs at an average of 45 and a strike rate of 142.85 from two matches, Verma is India's top scorer in the ongoing five-match series and arguably the best batter so far for the Men in Blue. His brilliant effort in Guyana, when he struck his maiden international fifty (51 off 41), helped India post a respectable total, but bowlers failed to dominate as the hosts won by two wickets to take a 2-0 lead.

Analysing the middle-order batter, veteran spinner Ravichandran drew parallels between the playing styles of Varma and India skipper Rohit Sharma. Ashwin praised Verma's spirited display in his debut series and specifically mentioned the southpaw's pull shot, saying he has a natural ability to play the shot like an Australian.

“The emergence of Tilak Varma has made everyone take notice of him. He looked in imperious touch even on that slow pitch in 1st T20I. His batting style is very unlike for an Indian making his international debut. His game resembles a lot like Rohit Sharma. Generally, India batters won’t set up to play the pull shot. It is something they develop later. But his game looks like he has a natural pull shot and sends the ball outside the rope like an Aussie batter,” the right-arm spinner said in his recent YouTube video.

Exciting part about Tilak Varma is that he is a left-hander: Ashwin

Meanwhile, Ashwin also spoke about Varma's possible inclusion in the Indian squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup. With the mega event less than two months away, India have many questions to answer in their middle-order as the availability of key players like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer is still uncertain.

The 36-year-old believes that Varma will be a great addition to India as a left-handed batter in the middle order can be crucial to the team's success. “This is neck-and-neck with respect to the World Cup. So, will they think about Tilak Varma as an option if we don’t have enough backups? Because Sanju Samson has performed really well in ODIs. But the exciting part about Tilak Varma is that he is a left-hander and Team India is lacking left-handers."

"Jaddu is the only left-handed batter in the top 7. And look at the off-spinners from all the top teams. Australia have Ashton Agar. England have Moeen Ali and a leggie in Adil Rashid. So most teams don’t have a finger spinner to challenge the left-handed batters. That is why the emergence of Tilak is crucial,” he concluded.

Here's how fans reacted to Ravichandran Ashwin's comments on Tilak Varma: 

India Ravichandran Ashwin Tilak Varma India vs West Indies