With just a few weeks to go in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Tilak Varma is warming up nicely for the tournament. In the ongoing DY Patil T20 Cup, Tilak smashed eight sixes and four fours in his unbeaten 44-ball 91 for Reliance against Central Railway. Reliance beat Central Railway by a comfortable margin of 65 runs.
Reliance’s captain Piyush Chawla won the toss and opted to bat first in Hardik Pandya's absence. Openers Pukhraj Mann (12-ball 26) and Naman Dhir (21-ball 30) got Reliance off to a good start. In the seventh over Tilak walked in to bat. In the same over Vishnu Vinod departed as well. Shivalik Sharma hit boundaries whereas Tilak took his time to settle. He hit his first boundary in the 11th over. In the 13th over, he hit his innings' first maximum. The southpaw reached his half-century from 28 balls.
Tilak goes on six-hitting spree
Shivalik got to his half-century from 31 balls in the 18th over. He departed in the penultimate over for a 36-ball 56. In the final over, Tilak went berserk after Ramkrishna Ghosh bowled a no ball. He smashed the free hit delivery for a six. Then, he finished the innings with three consecutive sixes. His 44-ball 91 helped Reliance post 220/4.
In the run chase, Central Railway failed to put up a fight as the top-order batters batted slowly. They ended up posting 155/6 and lost the match by 65 runs.
Dhawan’s comeback, Karthik’s golden duck
In the other game of the day, Tata Sports Club beat DY Patil Blue by just one run. Punjab Kings (PBKS) Shikhar Dhawan marked his return to competitive cricket with a 28-ball 39. In the run chase of 186, Ayush Badoni failed as he scored 10 runs from 11 balls. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik got bowled for a golden duck. Shubham Dubey tried to revive the run chase with an 18-ball 42 but DY Patil Blue lost by one run.
Earlier, Apoorva Wankhede's unbeaten 42-ball 83 helped Tata Sports Club post 185/9. Wankhede's 83-run knock included seven fours and five sixes.
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