I believe in Tilak Varma thread!!!

[Bigg Brother]

Tilak was going guns in t20s till SA series 2024 at number 4. Still he did ok in wt20 coming lower down the order. I still think he should be number 3/4 but after Ishan Kishan outperforming him at 3 and with Iyer at 4, he doesn't have place at 3/4.

[Gollum]

2 hours ago, maniac said:

Tilak Varma saved India from generational beizatti.

 

Losing 2023 World Cup is our biggest humble pie moment in cricket but imagine had we lost the Asia cup final:

 

After the boycott outage post op- sindoor, after the. No- hand shake controversy, after all the aeroplane gestures by Pak bowlers, the racist abuses etc had we lost the Asia cup final that would be generational humiliation. 
 

for the clutch final knock alone, he should be given a 5 yr contract across all formats where he can play in the X1 whenever he feels like. Period!!!

 

I mean look at  Tilak Varma’s record ffs. It’s stellar.   A lot  of lalluer players have gotten all the fame and fortune for being part of historic moments for India like case in point some of the 1983 wc winners or even 1985 WSC winners.

 

No language or regional bias, Tilak Varma is one of the clutchest players in Indian cricket history, clutch points add up 1000x to his talent.

 

i feel he can replicate the Kohli MCG knock or come close which is the  greatest T20 knock I have ever seen. I would say Samuels one is close  but that was against a weaker SL attack in sc conditons  so Kohli’s knock all the way especially since it came against 140+ phaaasht bowlers on MCG tough conditons .

 

In terms of stakes Tilak’s knock was easily extremely clutch. 

i believe in the Star boy Tilak and so should you

Nobody should be given a 5 year contract based on one innings, period. Also this isn't 1980s, abhi India mein talent is overflowing. So much that even Jaiswal has been reduced to a one-format specialist. 

 

Samuels' knock is the GOAT, final mein tha, and came against peak Malinga, Kulasekara and a very good spin attack featuring Mendis, Herath types. Pitch was also damn difficullt,his 80 odd was an outlier there where others struggled to cross 20 at 100 SR.  Any day that Lankan bowling attack mogs Pak 2022, SC conditions hua toh kya, it was low scoring. 

 

I have faith that Tilak will bounce back, maybe can do with a break for some time. Pragg had the same issue, great first half of 2025, but he played every single day and went into a slump for next 8-9 months, flopped in Candidates. He finally took a break and came back a different player in Norway, beating Magnus twice. Burnout shouldn't be treated trivially. 

[Suhaan]

7 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

With India having a poor record against Pakistan in Finals of a tournament, A loss in first ever India v Pak Asia Cup final would have been traumatic.

Tilak Varma saved us from a generational humiliation.  People don't realise how big that game was.

It was low key equal to a World Cup final for Padosis as Ahmed Shahzad said and matter of Pride for Indians.

Yes that being said his form has dipped massively,as I said needs to be sent at 3/4 again as an experiment,we can continue with it for a while as WC is far away

If his poor run continues there too,needs to be dropped 

He's batting quite slow and hurting his side, I don't know why he hasn't developed his game for variety of surfaces,he's been with the team for quite sometime now and this is not something which has crept into his game recently,chronic problem with him, should have adjusted by now

I know he had saved us from utter humiliation in the Asia cup,he's fantastic player and shouldn't be shunned altogether but he can't continue stinking like this,

I used to back him since the time he was in fringes,even now do it,but he needs to work out a plan to not get stuck at one end or create pressure on his partner at the other end

We already have Sarpunture,he and an indifferent Samson,that's quite a big rot as of now,need to come out of the mess

[Lord]

I feel Tilak will do well in Tests

[Lord]

35 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Still a very good pace hitter, his struggles are mostly against spin. Back him to come good in 2028 Australia. Anyway don't overload the team with hyper-aggressive players, can backfire on a track like MCG...build your team as per conditions. 

 

Right now, he could do with a break. Playing non-stop cricket for the last year or so...even these A matches. 

 

Iyer, Axar, Dube, Washi types will be bigger headaches for us for a WC in Aus. 

His issue is strike rotation when boundaries arent coming. 

[Suhaan]

2 minutes ago, Lord said:

I feel Tilak will do well in Tests

Ye haqeeqat baya kar rahe hain ya mazak farma rahe hain?

[Lord]

Just now, Suhaan said:

Ye haqeeqat baya kar rahe hain ya mazak farma rahe hain?

Decent technique, no need to rotate strike, can hit

 

keep in mind I’m comparing with current legends like Sai and Reddy

[deathmonger]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

Still a very good pace hitter, his struggles are mostly against spin. Back him to come good in 2028 Australia. Anyway don't overload the team with hyper-aggressive players, can backfire on a track like MCG...build your team as per conditions. 

 

Right now, he could do with a break. Playing non-stop cricket for the last year or so...even these A matches. 

 

Iyer, Axar, Dube, Washi types will be bigger headaches for us for a WC in Aus. 

Tbh even Gill wasn’t bad in that Aus T20 series. His issue which is similar to Tilak’s is that he can’t maximize on a complete patta.

 

Tilak played that AC knock plus there was a knock in the Eng series in 25. 
 

Even in the second Ireland game he hit a 50.

 

Also can maximize vs pace on flatties as seen by his twin 100s vs SA.

 

One player like him is good for crisis management. If team is off to flier, move him down to maximize runs vs pace at death like in the WC.

[deathmonger]

1 hour ago, Lone Wolf said:

With India having a poor record against Pakistan in Finals of a tournament, A loss in first ever India v Pak Asia Cup final would have been traumatic.

Tilak Varma saved us from a generational humiliation.  People don't realise how big that game was.

It was low key equal to a World Cup final for Padosis as Ahmed Shahzad said and matter of Pride for Indians.

That broke Pakistan completely.

 

The AC 23 humiliation over two days and the WC 23 beatdown took them off their perch.

 

The WC 24 defense of 120 buried them.

 

And the AC 25 with no handshakes plus three wins constructed their grave.

 

It was basically saying that we can completely have an off day with both batting and bowling and still win.

 

Post that Pakistanis have become real quiet.

 

Unlike CT 17 and WC 21 prior to which Pakistan was on a run of similar beatdowns, Tilak didn’t let them get a resuscitator.

 

The 26 WC game Ishan killed it off in the PP.

Edited July 2 by deathmonger

[Lone Wolf]

39 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

Yes that being said his form has dipped massively,as I said needs to be sent at 3/4 again as an experiment,we can continue with it for a while as WC is far away

If his poor run continues there too,needs to be dropped 

He's batting quite slow and hurting his side, I don't know why he hasn't developed his game for variety of surfaces,he's been with the team for quite sometime now and this is not something which has crept into his game recently,chronic problem with him, should have adjusted by now

I know he had saved us from utter humiliation in the Asia cup,he's fantastic player and shouldn't be shunned altogether but he can't continue stinking like this,

I used to back him since the time he was in fringes,even now do it,but he needs to work out a plan to not get stuck at one end or create pressure on his partner at the other end

We already have Sarpunture,he and an indifferent Samson,that's quite a big rot as of now,need to come out of the mess

He definitely needs to do better.  But shouldn't be discarded that soon either.

Sometimes need to be patient with these players as well.  Team management needs to have some discussions with him.  He is v young that people forget.

Had a v good WT20 provided those were flat pitches but still.

 

Axar is the weakest link right now.  We can't afford to carry him at lower down the order 

[deathmonger]

1 hour ago, Lone Wolf said:

He definitely needs to do better.  But shouldn't be discarded that soon either.

Sometimes need to be patient with these players as well.  Team management needs to have some discussions with him.  He is v young that people forget.

Had a v good WT20 provided those were flat pitches but still.

 

Axar is the weakest link right now.  We can't afford to carry him at lower down the order 

Naah, Axar has been clutch for three consecutive ICC trophies with his batting, bowling and fielding.

 

He should be given a long rope (as should most of the team) until 2027 at least post which the team will come into shape for 28 wc and olympics.

[Lone Wolf]

To people saying it was a flat pitch Riverside Durham is far from batting friendly and has huge square boundary.  163 is I think avg score.

Abhishek is first batter to score a 50 here at 200+ S/R (245+ to be precise) absolute freak

 

@vvvslaxman @Nikhil_cric  we would have won the game if it had gone full length of 20 overs.

 

Edited July 2 by Lone Wolf

[Lone Wolf]

9 minutes ago, deathmonger said:

Naah, Axar has been clutch for three consecutive ICC trophies with his batting, bowling and fielding.

 

He should be given a long rope (as should most of the team) until 2027 at least post which the team will come into shape for 28 wc and olympics.

Conditions won't be suitable for him in Australia.  He is bit washed as well probably age catching up.

Need Parag to come instead. 

Edited July 2 by Lone Wolf

[Nikhil_cric]

2 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

To people saying it was a flat pitch Riverside Durham is far from batting friendly and has huge square boundary.  163 is I think avg score.

Abhishek is first batter to score a 50 here at 200+ S/R (245+ to be precise) absolute freak

 

@vvvslaxman @Nikhil_cric  we would have won the game if it had gone full length of 20 overs.

 

Yep.  Just like in Australia last year.  Had both the Gabba and Canberra matches been completed  , the scoreline would've been 4-1. 

 

No way Australia were winning either match. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

5 hours ago, Gollum said:

Right now, he could do with a break. Playing non-stop cricket for the last year or so...even these A matches. 

Truth 

[vvvslaxman]

1 hour ago, Lone Wolf said:

To people saying it was a flat pitch Riverside Durham is far from batting friendly and has huge square boundary.  163 is I think avg score.

Abhishek is first batter to score a 50 here at 200+ S/R (245+ to be precise) absolute freak

 

@vvvslaxman @Nikhil_cric  we would have won the game if it had gone full length of 20 overs.

 

We would have under normal captaincy.  Under Iyer cpataincy nothing is safe. GUy couldn't handle Belfast stadium. How would he have handled an octoganl stadium :)

[Lone Wolf]

2 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Yep.  Just like in Australia last year.  Had both the Gabba and Canberra matches been completed  , the scoreline would've been 4-1. 

 

No way Australia were winning either match. 

Canberra Yes.. Gabba was still ongoing but it was a great pitch to bat we likely would have won 

[tapandrun]

right now game is evolving at a pace that has never been before, specially in white-ball cricket. There is lot of data is available and teams comes up with plans to counter a bowler or batter and once a counter is proven other teams follow the same vs that player and then if that particular player does not improve more and more counters are cerated.

 

In today's scenario players can not be remain jaded or not work and improve or have obvious weaknesses. If they do not improve they regress.

 

Verma has obvious issue with getting stuck and lack of boundary hitting without taking much risk and add to that a near zero off-side game, opp will explore the counters to keep him pinned and with so many limitations is not that hard fr initnl level bowlers.

 

The idea should be he goes back works with some batting coach be it at nca or his own personal coach.

 

Harbhajan has won an Asa cup game vs pak with his batting that does not make him a batter, think even praveen kumar was troubling Aus with batting.

 

1 game can not hide the obvious issue a player has. Before Abhishek , rutu had the record for highest run in a T20i innings for Ind but that does not make him Ind best t20 batter.

 

Sundar is be carried in all 3 formats is because of 1 t20i innings in Aus that also got him a place in T20i wc. Is he really a white-ball player  ???

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2 by tapandrun

[vvvslaxman]

Tilak varma's problem is not restricted to T20 with INdia. He has displayed hit issue even in domestic against slightly challenging sides. A games. IPL games.  Tilak's role should be changed into finisher role where he just has to deal with seamers. You gotta pair up with a spin basher like DUbe. IN a competitive environment further you are down the order riskier your position gets. Case in point is Rinku. He gets an average of 10 balls to face. He gotta score 25 runs every single time. Otherwise team will not hesititate to move on. If his future goal is to be part of LOI set up he has to evolve as a player. 

[tapandrun]

19 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Tilak varma's problem is not restricted to T20 with INdia. He has displayed hit issue even in domestic against slightly challenging sides. A games. IPL games.  Tilak's role should be changed into finisher role where he just has to deal with seamers. You gotta pair up with a spin basher like DUbe. IN a competitive environment further you are down the order riskier your position gets. Case in point is Rinku. He gets an average of 10 balls to face. He gotta score 25 runs every single time. Otherwise team will not hesititate to move on. If his future goal is to be part of LOI set up he has to evolve as a player. 

 

This is not a tournament that his issues needs to be fixed on the fly. He should go back work with coaches on his game and then comeback.

 

He is not a finisher he does not have that kind of game, pairing him with spin basher will also not help all he will do is to bring other batter down as well. Iyer is spin basher but their innings kind of going nowhere, sanju is spin basher too in asia cup his innings got stuck too.

 

Even in wc vs pak game, kishan was bashing each and every spinner where verma was unable to to so.

Even vs pace if team tries to hide him vs spin , pacer can bowl outside off-stump cutter and he does not have much power game through the off-side.

 

Ipl teams understands their players specially longterm players, when kkr was keeping rinku for last few overs ppl made noise about it but not understanding that rinku is not that good vs spin and hence they kept him for the role of facing 10-12 balls from pacers and get 20-25 runs.

 

If Ind has other options then those should be explored and verma should be asked to work on his game.

 

Kishan still has off-side issue and it stems from him being a bottom-hand batter, he can not deliver much power through off-side due to that, he has figured a way for it for Ind conditions, he tries to maximize anything on legside and tries to hit everything in his zone for 6s, then even if he does not get many runs on off-side he can counter balance it with leg-side play also he has added shots on off-side too.

 

Finn Allen -- A top hitter in t20s , massive power game, but due to his limitations on off-side finds it hard to be consistent or get big scores consistently , he also has expended his off-side game, now he is bit more consistent but still there is lot left out. But he counters it with the power-game he has. So he can still make any game one-sided if he clicks. verma does not have this kind of power game