3 reasons why Tilak Varma needs to bowl a few overs for Team India in the 2nd T20I vs West Indies
Amid a disappointing overall performance by Team India in the first T20I against West Indies in Trinidad, debutant Tilak Varma stood out.
Tilak plucked two good catches in the first innings before making an immediate impression with the bat. The 20-year-old hammered 39 off just 22 balls, a knock featuring two fours and three sixes, to announce his arrival on the international stage in stellar fashion.
It's safe to say that Tilak will be given a good run of games to make his mark for the Men in Blue, who are bound to field him in the second T20I as well. The contest will be played in Guyana on Sunday.
Batting isn't the only department Tilak can contribute to, though. It might be in the team's best interests to give the young off-spinner the chance to roll his arm over in his second international game.
Here are three reasons why Tilak Varma needs to bowl a few overs for Team India in the second T20I against West Indies.
#3 India would be able to play an additional batter if Tilak Varma gives them a sixth bowling option
India had six bowling options in their side for the series opener, with four frontline options being accompanied by Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel. However, that left them without any batting depth as Kuldeep Yadav came in at No. 8 and struggled to put bat to ball.
The Men in Blue might want to beef up their batting department. Without any all-rounders on the bench, their only option will be to hand Yashasvi Jaiswal a debut at the expense of either Kuldeep or Yuzvendra Chahal and move one of Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, and Jaiswal into the middle order.
If they do that, though, they'd have to work with only five bowlers, which is never a great idea. If India can manage to make Tilak a sixth bowling option by giving him a few overs, they could balance their bowling combinations in such a way that they don't feel the absence of one of their wrist spinners.
#2 Tilak Varma is a talented bowler who needs to be groomed for the future
Tilak Varma hasn't bowled a lot at the highest level, but there are clear indications that he has what it takes to become a successful off-spinner. He has a clean action, gets decent revs on the ball, and is fairly accurate as well.
In 48 T20s, Tilak has bowled 12 overs that have yielded two wickets at an economy rate of 7.66. He has also registered eight List-A wickets and three first-class scalps at an excellent economy rate and average respectively. The sample size is admittedly small, but the age group levels affirmed the belief that the youngster could become more than a part-time option.
India are desperate for batters who can bowl in white-ball cricket, and in Tilak, they finally have someone with that level of potential. In the long run, they will need someone like Tilak to reprise the role of Suresh Raina, who is (perhaps not that incidentally) his role model.
#1 There are positive matchups in the opposition
West Indies have three left-handers in their top six. While Nicholas Pooran loves butchering off-spinners, Kyle Mayers and Shimron Hetmyer are prime candidates to be confronted with a bowler like Tilak Varma.
Mayers' struggles against off-spin are well-documented in T20 leagues around the world, with the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) reinforcing that belief beyond any reasonable doubt. The explosive opener almost always loses his wicket while facing off-spinners, often while trying to take them on.
Hetmyer, meanwhile, has always been a slow starter against spin. The southpaw averages 26.35 and strikes at a lowly 98.03 against off-spin over the course of his T20 career. His T20I numbers aren't much better - an average of 18 and a strike rate of 90.9.
It would be more than feasible for India to not just sneak in a few overs of Tilak against Mayers and Hetmyer but also use the off-spinner as an attacking option to prise out two of the Windies' most dangerous batters.