India will be looking the strengthen their lead as they clash against Australia in the second T20I match on Sunday, November 26. Both teams produced a thriller in the series opener in Visakhapatnam with the hosts chasing down 208 runs on the last ball of the game.
It was an impressive performance from the much-changed batting unit after a poor bowling show. India lost openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal early but captain Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan shone with brilliant fifties each to rescue the Men in Blue.
However, the likes of Tilak Varma and Axar Patel failed to provide a finish in the first game. Tilak was forced to bat in the No. 5 position after making an impact in the No. 4 role on his debut series against West Indies in August 2023. The youngster scored 12 runs off 10 balls before losing his wicket while attempting a big shot.
Tilak was impressive on his debut with 39, 51, and 49* scores against West Indies but has struggled to carry the momentum with some average performances. Speaking on the eve of the second match, Tilak about his desire to finish games like Rinku Singh in the future games and also added that there is no pressure of expectation on him.
"I am learning how to finish games from Rinku as he is doing it consistently for India," Tilak said in the pre-match press conference. "I also want to do and hopefully in coming matches I will be doing that. There is no pressure of expectation on me. I just have a role and I have to fulfil that role for the team. My role at No. 5 is, if it's in my arc, I will go for it or else just rotate strike.
"Last match, in that situation a leg-spinner was bowling, I wanted to take charge as we needed 10 per over in that situation, so it was decided I will go at the leg-spinner and for fast bowler, settled batsman Surya bhai was batting."
Australia squad: Matthew Wade (c & wk), Travis Head, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha, Kane Richardson, Aaron Hardie.
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Washington Sundar, Avesh Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jitesh Sharma.
