Tilak Varma, the Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians youngster in his first appearance at the highest level has impressed one and all both with his intent and temperament in three T20Is so far against the West Indies. Varma, who on the back of his consistent performances in the IPL over the last two seasons, earned his maiden call-up for the ongoing T20 series has returned scores of 39 (22), 51 (41) and 49* (37) in three games so far and the fans, experts and former cricketers have already made him a top contender to be in the World Cup squad.
It will be a really long shot given that Tilak has shown his prowess at the highest level just in T20Is and that he is named in the squad for the Asian Games, which will be clashing with the World Cup. Tilak is set to play five more T20Is - two against the West Indies and the remaining three against Ireland before the Asian Games. Still, the users suggest that being a left-hander and having the ability to play in both gears in the middle order, strengthens his case even more.
Not just the fans, cricketers like R Ashwin, Wasim Jaffer, Pragyan Ojha and pundits like Aakash Chopra have also expressed their views strongly in Tilak's favour to get selected in the squad for the World Cup at No. 4 because of the maturity he has shown and given that there are doubts over Shreyas Iyer's participation in the tournament. Here are a few reactions:
Tilak in 25 List-A matches has 1236 runs to his name at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 101. While many may say that his fast-tracking might be a little too early, if he continues to perform like this and the likes of Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav not grabbing their chances, his late entry into the squad can't be ruled out completely.
