The young rising sensation Tilak Varma, who made his international debut in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies, took Alzarri Joseph to the cleaners with a 19-run over inside the powerplay, after both the Indian openers were dismissed cheaply. On August 13, Sunday, India is batting first, as of this writing, at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, with the five-match T20I series hanging in the balance at 2-2.
After Indian captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to bat first against the Men in Maroon in the fifth T20I, Akeal Hosein picked up the key wickets of both openers in consecutive overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who shared a 165-run opening stand against the same attack on the same ground in the fourth T20I after completing their fifties, lost their wickets for 5 and 9 respectively, in the ongoing match.
It led to Tilak Varma joining his fellow Mumbai Indians teammate Suryakumar Yadav in the middle. The 20-year-old played a bit cautiously in the first few deliveries of his innings, before opening his shoulders against the premier West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph.
He scored 19 runs in the sixth over of the Indian batting innings to bring the visitors back into the match. Tilak Varma played the first ball as a dot, before scoring 4, 6, 4, 4, 1 off Alzarri Joseph, to raise the decibel levels among the crowd present at the stadium in Lauderhill.
The left-handed batter also hit Jason Holder for a six in the next over, depositing the slower ball out of the park. Tilak Varma ended up stitching together a 49-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav before getting dismissed, caught and bowled by Roston Chase. His innings came to a close after scoring 27 off 18 deliveries, which included three fours and two sixes.
