India suffered a close four-run defeat to the West Indies in the opening T20I match of the series at the Brian Lara Stadium but one of the bright sparks on the night was one of their two debutants in Tilak Varma. The young batter from Hyderabad was impressive with his dynamic 39-run score off 22 balls, aided by 2 fours and 3 sixes.
After his debut game, the youngster received a massive vote of confidence from one of his teammates in the Indian Premier League — Dewald Brevis.
The South African batter shared a video congratulating the batter for his performance in the first game and a video of the same was posted on X.com (formerly Twitter) by the BCCI.
"I hope you're very excited. I don't know if I am more excited than you, but I just want to say from my side and from the Brevis family, congratulations on your debut. It's such a great moment for you and your family. I can imagine how happy your parents and everyone must be. It's great to see you living your dream out."
"It gave me goosebumps, that second and third ball. Just know that you have all my support for the rest of this series. Im backing you fully and go win every game for Team India," said Brevis.
Brevis and Tilak play together for the Mumbai Indians. Nicknamed 'Baby AB' for the way, his batting is reminiscent of former Proteas legend AB de Villiers, both players were brought into the MI side in the IPL 2022 mega auction. While Tilak has scored 740 runs in his two IPL seasons to date, Brevis has been a little less impressive with just 160 runs in seven matches in IPL 2022. In IPL 2022, the batter failed to break into the Playing X for MI.
Speaking after the game, India's T20I skipper Hardik Pandya was full praise for the youngster. Tilak - very pleasing to see the way he started his innings. Not a bad way to start your international cricket with a couple of sixes. There's confidence and the fearlessness they (Tilak Varma and Mukesh Kumar) have."
With this loss, India missed a chance to get a lead in the five-game series as they failed in their chase of a 150-run target, which they ended at a nail-biting 145 for 9.
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