Tilak Varma marked his triumphant entry to the T20I fifty club by dedicating his celebration to Samaira Sharma, whose father is Tilak's Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma.
Tilak led India's scoreboard in the second T20I against the West Indies in Guyana with an impressive 41-ball 51.
'It was towards Sammy, Rohit bhai's daughter,' Tilak said after the game, explaining his gesture.
'I am very close to Sammy. I had promised her that whenever I will score a century or a fifty, I will do a celebration for her.'
Tilak says Rohit's constant guidance has played a big role in his stellar start to international cricket.
With less than two months left in the 2023 ODI World Cup, India have quite a few questions to answer in terms of their final playing XI combination, including their middle order.
With both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer yet to mark comebacks after having picked injuries earlier this summer, the men in blue haven’t been able to lock in on their batting order including the number four slot.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin though, believes that India’s latest batting sensation Tilak Varma – who made his debut in the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies and scored a maiden half century on Sunday – can be the answer to some of India’s problems.
“The emergence of Tilak Varma has made everyone take notice of him. He looked in imperious touch even on that slow pitch in 1st T20I. His batting style is very unlike for an Indian making his international debut. His game resembles a lot like Rohit Sharma. He sweats on the pull shot. Generally, India batters won’t set up to play the pull shot. It is something they develop later. But his game looks like he has a natural pull shot and sends the ball outside the rope like an Aussie batter,” Ashwin said in his recent YouTube video.