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Mumbai Indians' (MI) strategy of investing in young talent for the future is yet to pay off but their bowling coach Shane Bond was impressed with the performance of their youth stars during their loss to the in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League (IPL) season opener.
New head coach Mark Boucher handed a debut to Nehal Wadhera, who had a fine Ranji Trophy campaign for Punjab, and he had a good outing alongside another young gun in Tilak Varma, who performed above expectations in IPL 2023.
Bond credited the young players for their performances in an MI press release and said, "Tilak played brilliantly, and so did the other youngsters. We have been focusing on investing in young talent for the future, and it's now time for those youngsters to show up and get the opportunities."
In the match, MI were hit with an early collapse, losing four wickets for 31 runs. After the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav in the ninth over, Tilak and Wadhera put on a masterclass in aggression, smashing a 50-run partnership off just 30 balls. Wadhera scored an impactful 21 off just 13 balls, while Tilak was particularly impressive, showing a lot of courage in his shots, according to captain Rohit Sharma.
"I always back my shots, and I was doing the same thing here. I was asking my partners what could be a good total here and going accordingly," Tilak said after the match.
The Mumbai Indians' focus on young talent has been evident in their team selection over the last few years. The team has consistently given opportunities to promising players like Tilak and Wadhera, and previously Ishan Kishan and Rahul Chahar, and these players have shown that they have what it takes to perform at the highest level.
As the season progresses, it will be interesting to see how they manage these young and talented players, who will be key to the team's success in the years to come.
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