Tilak Varma plays anchor in another smart chase to give India 2-0 T20I series lead

Tilak Varma has finally taken his team home in a chase after a long time.

Since the unbeaten 69 against Pakistan in last year’s Asia Cup final in Dubai,
Tilak hasn’t really been able to navigate a chase successfully despite getting a few 50-plus scores.

However, in Christchurch on Saturday, the left-handed batsman finally had his way. Tilak hit an unbeaten 51 (off 26 balls), which was key to earning India a four-wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20I to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

His unbeaten innings aside, Tilak also stitched two vital partnerships — 42 with Naman Dhir for the sixth wicket and an unbroken 69 with Nitish Kumar Reddy (26 not out off 13 balls), which helped India overhaul New Zealand’s 180/5 with a ball to spare. That, after being reduced to 70/5 in the 11th over.

It was less than a fortnight ago when the same Tilak-Reddy pair had launched a late fightback against the West Indies in Hyderabad, though India had still fallen short in the end. On this occasion, however, Tilak was a little more assiduous.

His focus was on being steady and solid against New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner (4/21), who utilised the Hagley Oval pitch wonderfully to push India back single-handedly. Tilak rightly preferred to play the waiting game against Santner and Michael Bracewell’s off-breaks.

Fast bowling has been the Black Caps’ weak link in both the T20Is so far. That’s where Tilak cashed in on.

Once Santner and Bracewell were done with their spells, Tilak unleashed himself on the New Zealand quicks, hammering 25 off the last nine deliveries he faced. At the other end, Reddy too ensured that he didn’t do anything flashy, as the duo helped India go past the finish line.

Some credit also needs to go to India’s pace duo of Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav (replacing Mayank Yadav) for keeping the home batters quiet in the Powerplay.

Axar Patel, too, was economical, bowling the stump-to-stump line, which worked on that surface.

The next contest is in Wellington on Tuesday.