Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan lavished praise on Tilak Varma after India secured a thrilling five-wicket win against Pakistan in the Asia Cup final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, on Sunday. Varma joined forces with Shubman Gill when India were struggling at 10-2 in the run-chase of 147.
The Indian vice-captain was soon dismissed, leaving India’s run-chase in disarray at 20-3. However, Varma was able to get India back into the contest, adding crucial alliances with Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube.
Varma scored an unbeaten knock of 69 runs off just 53 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes. The left-hander added 57 runs with Samson and then added 60 runs with Shivam Dube to take India over the line.
“Tilak Varma has played the best innings of his career. He has scored two centuries in T20I cricket, but he hasn’t played a better innings than this. This is just a 69-run knock, but Tilak Varma would have never faced bigger pressure than this in his career, and he converted that into a big performance brilliantly,” Irfan Pathan said on Sony Sports.
Pathan compared Varma’s temperament with Virat Kohli and lauded the batter for finishing the game.
“It seemed at one stage that we would fall way behind. There, he played a Virat Kohli-type inning because Virat Kohli used to do this job. He used to stand like a king in big games against Pakistan in such situations. This inning will be remembered for years,” Pathan added.
The former swing bowler praised Varma for playing low-risk cricket while being under immense pressure.
“Wickets were falling from the other end, but he kept doing his job. He handled the pressure. He didn’t feel that wickets were falling and there would be more pressure at the end, so he should play a big shot. He didn’t do that. He played this inning with low-risk cricket,” he said.
“That’s why Virat Kohli’s name repeatedly comes to mind because he used to play such low-risk cricket. There is another thing. Mohammad Nawaz’s three overs were left because he (Tilak) was playing. If a left-arm spinner bowled fast on this pitch, he would have made it difficult. They (Pakistan) couldn’t manage the bowling the way they wanted,” Pathan observed.
India will next take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series.
