Play on till the end, coaches’ message that guides Tilak Varma to India’s T20I win

On a used Hagley Oval pitch in Christchurch, Tilak Varma’s sole focus was staying on till the end. That was also the message conveyed to him, ahead of the second T20I, by head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.

Tilak ensured he followed the coaches’ advice and produced a match-winning 51 not out off 26 balls, with assistance from Naman Dhir and Nitish Kumar Reddy, which helped India chase down the 181-run target on a tricky surface on Saturday. No doubt, his job wasn’t easy after India lost in-form openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (who replaced the injured Ishan Kishan), captain Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel to wobble at 70/5 in the 11th over.

“At that stage, I was just thinking about playing till the end,” Tilak said.

“Just before today (Saturday)’s game, I was talking to Gautam Sir and Sitanshu Sir, and they said, ‘We all believe, and whole India believes in you. If you stay till the end, then you will win the game for us.’

“That was in my mind, and I wanted to take the game as deep as possible. At the end of the day, I have done what everyone believed. So, I’m really proud of myself.”

India’s best chance to win the game from such a tough position was by maximising their scoring opportunities against the New Zealand quicks, which they certainly did. But Tilak and Reddy also did well in rotating the strike against spinners Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell, and running hard between the wickets.

“I think we got four to five twos against the spinners, and those eight-ten runs were really crucial. We played that smartly... we knew we could hit the pacers later on,” Tilak said.