Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes in Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma's claim that young teen sensation Tilak Varma has the chance of being an all-format batter for Team India in the future. With 376 runs in 13 games for the five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Tilak, whose age is just 19, has been among the best uncapped players in IPL 2022 and a bright spark in an otherwise dismal season for MI.
"Rohit Sharma rightly mentioned that Tilak Varma could be an all-format player for India. So now it's up to him to work that little bit extra, get his fitness going, get a little tighter as far as the technique is concerned, and prove Rohit right," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
The youngster from Hyderabad top-scored with an unbeaten 34 as MI beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by five wickets before the side lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their last match on Tuesday, May 17. It was an important knock that helped his team to the victory and Gavaskar was quick to praise Tilak for his performance against their staunch rivals.
"Tilak Varma's temperament has been fantastic. In his knock against Chennai Super Kings, he walked into the middle when the team was under pressure. But the way he dealt in ones and twos (early on) was impressive. He played a wide range of shots and kept rotating the strike. This shows that he has a good cricketing head on his shoulders, and I think that's important.
"Once you have that good cricketing brain, you will be able to lift yourself when things are not going your way. You can analyse yourself and get back to scoring runs," the legendary opener said.
Gavaskar was also hugely impressed that a young player like Tilak has his basic stances and batting position on the point, "He's got the basics right. Technically, he's right. He gets right behind the line of the ball. He's got a straight bat, and while defending on the front foot his bat is close to the pad. So, all his basics are right. "With all the right basics you've got to marry the temperament and that marriage we have seen is very good at the moment. I hope that he carries on," he added.
Gavaskar's views on Tilak Varma are in tandem with many cricket pundits, who have touted the youngster to be the emerging player of IPL 2022. His performances might also bring him into contention to play for Men in Blue in the many upcoming series' of the Indian cricket team.
