Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma, who after his partnership with skipper Rohit Sharma led their team to their maiden win of the season on Tuesday, April 11, received a lot of praise for his 41 off 29 balls knock against Delhi Capitals. One big name who was all praise for the young batter is former India Head Coach, Ravi Shastri. He opined that it would be surprising if Varma doesn’t play for India in the next six to eight months. Shastri praised the 20-year-old for his consistent good performance in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.
Tilak, who was moved to position three, partnered with the MI skipper, Rohit Sharma to forge a 68-run stand in the match against DC. Praising the young talent, Shastri said that he looks like an “India player already”. He went on to say that the maturity the young player possesses are a good indicator for his franchise as well as the India team.
Speaking to a news channel, the former India coach said, “India player already. I would be extremely shocked if this Indian player would not represent India in T20 cricket over the next six to eight months. He possesses both maturity and flair. He would significantly improve the Indian middle order. Tilak Verma is only 20 years old. But he appears much older than that given the level of maturity he is displaying. Not just from the perspective of Mumbai, but also from the perspective of India, it is really encouraging.”
Notably, Tilak was bought by Mumbai Indians for a whopping INR 1.70 Crore, scoring 397 runs in 14 matches with an average of 36.09. Talking of this season, he has scored 147 runs from three matches with an average of 73.5.