When India took on the West Indies in the first T20I of the five-match series on Thursday, August 3, the contest promised to offer a riveting clash between the stars of the Indian Premier League and their Caribbean Premier League counterparts.
Both sides possessed enough firepower in their tank for the fans to expect a high-scoring clash. However, with the game being played on the same pitch that was used for the third ODI between the two sides, there was a sense of uncertainty as to how successful the batters from both sides could potentially be.
As it turned out, the bowlers had the last laugh as stroke-making clearly looked difficult to execute throughout the entirety of the game. After winning the toss, West Indies chose to bat first to make the most out of the batting conditions up front and posted 149 on the board for the loss of six wickets.
In pursuit of 150, India were reeling at one stage with just 28 runs on the board and both openers back in the hutch. In came debutant Tilak Varma and showed the reason why he deserved to be a part of the playing XI.
He didn’t take much time to adapt to the wicket and got off the blocks without wasting much time. He got off the mark with a maximum as he put Alzarri Joseph away over deep square leg. Coincidentally, the batter at the other end happened to be Suryakumar Yadav, who had also sent the first ball of his international career into the stands off England’s Jofra Archer in March 2021.
Watch Tilak Varma’s first delivery in international cricket:
The southpaw added spice to his remarkable beginning as he swivelled and executed a pull over the deep square fence to the delight of the Indian fans. India looked firm favourites to scale the target down as long Tilak remained in the middle which showed his commanding presence at the crease.
His innings wore a captivating look as long as it lasted before the 20-year-old ballooned an attempted pull to Shimron Hetmyer standing at the fine leg fence off Romario Shepherd’s bowling on the last delivery of the 11th over.
Though, the Hyderabad-born couldn’t last long enough to guide India to victory, his short but charismatic stay in the middle helped him fetch a couple of milestones to his credit. The Hyderabad batter became the Indian to finish with the highest strike rate on T20I debut – 177.27, with a minimum of 30 runs scored.
Tilak’s 22-ball 39 saw him power three sixes off his willow and he alongside Rahul Dravid and Murali Vijay became the Indian to hit the joint-most number of sixes (3) on T20I debut away from home.
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