IND vs ENG 2025: Michael Vaughan lauds ‘wonderful’ Tilak Varma after batter’s match-winning knock in 2nd T20I

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan showered praise on Tilak Varma for his match-winning knock in the second T20I at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Saturday. The southpaw scored an unbeaten knock of 72 runs off just 55 balls to help the hosts get over the line in a thrilling run-chase.

The left-hander scored four fours and five sixes in his brilliant knock as he batted at the top of his game. India was reeling at 78-5 while chasing 166 however Varma was the lone warrior for the team.

Ravi Bishnoi also played a crucial unbeaten knock of nine runs off just five balls. 

Vaughan highlighted that India batted poorly but they got over the line, courtesy of Tilak Varma.

Vaughan said on Cricbuzz, “He’s [Varma] a wonderful player. He played the situation at hand. Picked the right ball at the right time to attack. To hold his nerve throughout the whole innings where there were a number of poor options by some of the Indian batters today. I don’t think India will bat any worse than they did today. They got over the line by one individual brilliant innings.

“When I look at England, it was a massive opportunity. I don’t India were quite as good as they were in the first game. They gave England a chance or two and England were just not good enough to take them,” the 50-year-old added.

England could not grab their chances in the field as Adil Rashid dropped Washington Sundar’s catch when the left-hander was on 10. Sundar went on to score 26 and scored two fours and a six after he was given a second life. 

On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan showered praise on Tilak Varma for understanding the match situation and playing accordingly to take his team home.

“When he was playing in South Africa, he had that blistering hundred. Today, the powerplay was good in many ways – scoring 59 runs, but losing three wickets. So understanding of the situation from Tilak Varma was just superb – he changed gears. Tilak Varma showed a lot of maturity to get the team home.”

The third T20I between India and England will be played at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot on Tuesday.