Tilak Varma slammed a 25-ball 51 in Christchurch to help India win. Before his knock, coach Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak told him, "All of India believes in you." Tilak stayed calm and built key partnerships with Naman Dhir and Nitish Kumar Reddy to finish the game for India.
When Shreyas Iyer's wicket fell, India were 69/4, still needing 112 from 55 balls. Tilak Varma walked into the middle and slammed a 25-ball 51 in Christchurch. It was not an innings played at a single gear. When he was batting with Naman Dhir, he let the right-hander do the hitting while he played second fiddle. But once Dhir fell, the southpaw turned up the music alongside Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Speaking about his mindset in the middle, Tilak said: "No, at that stage I was just thinking about playing till the end."
The 23-year-old also opened up about the conversation he had with Head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. "They said one thing that we all believe, and all of India believes in you. If you stay till the end, you will win the game for us. So that's what was going through my mind," Tilak added.
When Dhir's wicket fell, India still needed 69 runs from 37 deliveries, and Tilak was batting almost at run-a-ball with 10 runs from nine balls. "I wanted to take the game as deep as possible, and at the end of the day, again, what everyone believed and had done," Tilak revealed.
"I'm really proud of myself," the Hyderabadi reflected on his knock.
Tilak and Naman put on 42 runs from 24 balls, which set up the platform for the final partnership with Nitish, yielding 69 runs from 30 deliveries. Speaking about his conversations with Dhir in the middle, Tilak revealed: "I was telling Naman that we'll stay till the end, and especially the wicket was slightly slower today, compared to the last game. So I was telling Naman that we'll push hard in running between the wickets when spinners were bowling," Tilak said.
"So that's what our plan was, and we pushed hard when they were bowling. Unfortunately, Naman got out in the last over of Mitchell Santner. Otherwise, I think we would have finished the game. So credit goes to Naman as well, the way he batted, but after that, you know, the Hyderabadi boys were in play today -- Nitish Reddy and myself -- and we are really happy that we finished the game," Tilak concluded.