After losing the T20I series narrowly by four runs to the West Indies in Trinidad, India will be aiming to put up a better show in the batting department when they face West Indies in the second T20I at the Providence Stadium here on Sunday. The pitch was slow and not easy to bat at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, but young left-handed batter Tilak Varma shone brightly on debut. After scintillating performances in IPL 2022 and 2023 as well as in domestic cricket took him to the national team, Varma slammed two beautiful sixes on facing his first three balls in international cricket.
With the likes of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson all struggling to get going in the opening T20I, Varma showed fearlessness of youth and looked at ease during his 22-ball 39, providing a good glimpse into a possibly glorious future.
In the first T20I, one can argue that India not having players who can hit boundaries in the lower order did hurt them in their inability to go over the line, especially with the tail starting from number eight, causing the balance of the playing eleven to go a bit off.
