Tilak Varma to play ODI World Cup 2023: While the entire cricket fraternity is in awe of young Tilak Varma’s performances in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies, former Indian chief selector, MSK Prasad has made bold remarks on the future of the batter. Prasad hailed Varma for his valiant contributions in the ongoing IND vs WI T20I series, which the hosts are leading by 2-1 after three games.
Tilak Varma has taken the cricketing world by storm with his sensible performances so far in his little international career, which began last week. After making his debut during the 1st T20I in Trinidad, Varma has notched up 39, 51 and an unbeaten 49 in the three T20Is so far.
While it may be too early to call him a superstar in the making, he indeed is a great addition to the Indian shortest format side. His performances so far have reflected that the batter has the right mindset and temperament to play the sport for long.
Meanwhile, Ex IND selector, MSK Prasad, reckons Tilak Varma could be a great value addition for the Asia Cup 2023 and ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in the Indian side.
Giving a reference from his List-A career, Prasad suggested that the batter has a conversion rate of 50 per cent when it comes to scoring centuries.
“Look at his List A record for Hyderabad. He has played 25 List-A games and has an average of 55 plus. Five hundred and five half-centuries. It means at least 50 per cent times he is converting fifties into hundreds. A strike rate of 100 plus,” MSK Prasad told PTI.
The suggestion made some sense if we look at what the current dynamics of the Indian team are. Shreyas Iyer, who used to be a consistent middle-order batter for India, has some uncertainty due to injury. Suryakumar Yadav, who has been tested to play in Iyer’s spot, has failed miserably to prove his mettle in the ODI format.
“It won’t be a bad idea provided Shreyas (Iyer) can’t make it. Only then can you think of Varma. But I am sure he will be a white ball regular for India across formats going forward,” MSK Prasad added.
Tilak Varma is a left-hander, who India needs: R Ashwin
Meanwhile, India’s ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has also put his weight behind the selection of Tilak Varma for the World Cup 2023. Calling it an interesting take, Ashwin believes the inclusion of Varma into the Indian ODI side could lead to a better balance of the side.
However, he also mentioned that Sanju Samson has been around the Indian white-ball setup for a while and has given laudable performances in the ODIs, so he can’t be ignored.
“This is neck-and-neck with respect to the World Cup. So, will they think about Tilak Varma as an option if we don’t have enough backups? Because Sanju Samson has performed really well in ODIs,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“But the exciting part about Tilak Varma is that he is a left-hander and Team India is lacking left-handers. Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) is the only left-handed batter in the top 7.”
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