Indian cricket team recorded a dominating seven-wicket win over West Indies in the third T20I match to keep the ongoing five-match series alive on Tuesday, August 8. The world no.1 T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav ended his poor run of form as he smashed 83 off 44 balls after an impressive bowling performance from Kuldeep Yadav.
However, fans were further impressed by Tilak Varma's crucial unbeaten knock in the third T20I. The young batter scored 49* off 37 to continue his flaming rise in international cricket. He displayed skillful cricket with the help of some attacking shots to impress the fans.
The 20-year-old batter from Mumbai Indians made his international debut during the first T20I and made an immediate impact by smashing 39 runs off just 22 balls. He was India's leading run-getter in the first two matches and remained unbeaten in the most recent game to showcase his potential.
Tilak has scored 139 runs from three innings at an average of 69.50 and at a strike rate of 139.00 in the ongoing series. With two more games to go, the youngster can break Virat Kohli's record for most runs in the bilateral T20I series for India.
Virat Kohli holds the majority of records in the shortest format, including the record for most career runs. He recorded 231 runs against England at home in a five-match T20I series in March 2021 with the help of three unbeaten fifties at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.
KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan are the only other two Indian cricketers with over 200 runs in the five-match bilateral T20I series but Tilak is on the verge of joining the elite list in the upcoming two games against West Indies. Tilak needs only 61 runs to score 200 runs and 92 runs to become India's highest run-scorer in single bilateral T20I series and considering the start he has received to his international career, it seems a realistic target.
Most runs in single five-match bilateral T20I series for India:
- Virat Kohli - 231 runs vs England in March 2021
- KL Rahul - 224 runs vs New Zealand in January-February 2020
- Ishan Kishan - 206 runs vs South Africa in June 2022
- Shreyas Iyer - 153 runs vs New Zealand in January-February 2020
- Tilak Varma - 139 runs vs West Indies in August 2023