3 reasons why Tilak Varma is a dark horse for the 2023 World Cup
As he did in his debut IPL season in 2022 (and then again in 2023), Tilak Varma turned a lot of heads while announcing himself at the international level.
Against an inspired West Indian bowling attack and in not-so-easy batting conditions, he scored 39, 51, and 49 not out in his first three T20I innings. Some of the shots he played and the temperament he showed, made people think, can he be fast-tracked to the ODI team for the 2023 World Cup?
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer said the same in a recent interview. Although at first glance, it looks like an outrageous decision to take a three or five-match T20I-old batter to the World Cup, there are some reasons why it might work.
Here are three of those:
The situation might just warrant it
KL Rahul is said to be recovering well for the World Cup and might be even available for the Asia Cup, which starts on August 31. But there's still a cloud on Shreyas Iyer's availability, who was a key part of India's plans in the middle order.
He scored two tons while batting at number four at an average of 47.35. In his absence, India tried Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, and even Hardik Pandya himself but no one scored even a half-century until the third ODI against West Indies where Sanju Samson chipped in with 51 (41).
If Shreyas doesn't recover in time, then that haunted number four spot, which was a major talking point four years ago ahead of the 2019 World Cup as well, might be open again.
And as India have shown a tendency to not trust Samson lately, Tilak might just get a nod for the Asia Cup to be tried at that spot and who knows?
Tilak has the record and form to back him
Tilak Varma in T20 from IPL 2023:
84*(46), 22(18), 41(29), 30(25), 37(17), 3(4), 2(3), 29*(21), 26*(10), 26(22), 43(14), 39(22), 51(41) & 49*(37)
- This is crazy...!!! pic.twitter.com/arBvCzTgi8
We have only seen him in T20Is but Tilak is no muck with the bat in the 50-over format, which is his favorite in domestic cricket. In 25 matches, he has 123 runs at an average of 56.18 with a strike rate of 101.64. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022-23, he scored 402 runs at an average of 80.40 and a strike rate of almost 120.
He has batted at number three for most part of his career and has often shown the maturity to time his innings well, which is a key element of 50-over batting. This also shows in his List-A conversion rate: five centuries and five half-centuries.
The number three to number four shift isn't an extremely difficult one in cricket. You generally come in similar situations, and maybe need to be a bit better than the number three against spin to play out the middle overs.
Tilak had a decent strike rate of 136.19 against spin in IPL 2023. Although it was considerably low compared to 192.30 against pace, he mostly batted in death overs where that kind of attack was necessary against fast bowlers.
Moreover, with Rishabh Pant unavailable too India's top and middle order at the Asia Cup might be all right-handed until Ravindra Jadeja: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya. Ishan Kishan has also been seen as a backup opener.
Whether it's left-arm pace or left-arm spin, we have seen a right-handers-heavy batting order struggle together in match-ups. Moreover, none of the top-order is capable enough of bowling, which is another issue continued since 2019.
Tilak is a left-hander and a decent off-spinner too, and him coming in at No. 4 for India, though surely risky, could also have a big upside.
We've seen this script before
Ambati Rayudu had done nothing wrong at number four in the leadup to the 2019 World Cup but recency bias had pushed Indian selectors to go with Vijay Shankar and Rishabh Pant, who had both done well in that year's IPL.
Similarly, for the 2021 T20 World Cup, India went with Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy, who were both in excellent form in the leadup to the tournament but didn't have any experience of playing big international matches.
So, the third reason why Tilak could be a dark horse for the 2023 World Cup is because, well, that's what selectors do. The need of the hour, sprinkled with some recency bias could be the recipe for him being India's wildcard at the mega event.