[Watch] Tilak Varma opens his account in international cricket with monstrous sixes
Tilak Varma showed a glimpse of just why he is so highly rated. The 20-year-old smashed a couple of sixes to score his first runs for India on debut against the West Indies in the first T20I at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad on Thursday, August 3.
The left-hander targeted the square leg region for his sixes, an area of strength as seen in the IPL. Alzarri Joseph bowled a length ball and Varma just picked it up with disdain and deposited it over the square leg to open his account.
On the very next delivery, Joseph pulled back his length a bit, but the southpaw was ready on the backfoot as his swivel-pull saw the ball sailing over the fence once again.
Here's a video of the two sixes:
Tilak Varma played an entertaining cameo of 39
Tilak Varma had already shown how good a fielder he is with two absolutely brilliant catches. He covered a lot of ground to complete a fine running catch of Johnson Charles and then took one low at deep mid-wicket to dismiss the dangerous Nicholas Pooran.
There has been a lot of talk about how fearless Varma has been and the need for a left-hander in the Indian middle-order in white-ball cricket. Varma's cameo of 39 has shown enough promise for him just to be the player India need.
However, as far as the match is concerned, the visitors find themselves in a tricky situation at the time of writing. None of the openers got off to a good start and the middle-order batters couldn't stay till the end to see off the chase.
It has all come down to Axar Patel and his hitting ability as the Men in Blue have a long tail with Kuldeep Yadav at No. 8. Only time will tell whether West Indies can pull off a fine win.