Ahmedabad, Feb 21 (PTI) Tilak Varma’s scrappy batting in all four league games of the T20 World Cup hasn’t gone unnoticed but skipper Suryakumar Yadav dismissed suggestions about replacing him, as the role that he is performing is on directive of the team management. Tilak, whose career strike-rate is 141 plus, has seen it dipping to 120s as he has been found struggling against slow bowlers on tracks where the ball is gripping a tad more.
Unlike his skipper Suryakumar, who also drops anchor at times, Tilak hasn’t been able to switch gears with only 11 boundaries and three sixes to his credit across four games.
“I mean I have told him, the team management has told him that he has to bat that way. If one wicket is down, then he is definitely, he can go and have his own game in the powerplay.
“But as soon as two wickets are down, then he has to take a little bit of backseat, get a partnership again, get to the 10th over and then we have enough firepower to continue and take on the bowling,” the Indian skipper explained the rationale behind the approach although it wasn’t exactly convincing.
But Suryakumar said that even Tilak has set higher standards for himself.
“Definitely I am sure he must not be happy with how he is batting right now, I am sure. He must be and he has practised a lot as well in the last 2-3 practice sessions. But I don’t have any concern regarding him. He has been delivering for India at No. 3 really well and I am very confident that he will do it better.” Suryakumar literally laughed off suggestions that there could be a chance of replacing Tilak with Sanju Samson.
“You mean, I should make him (Samson) play for Tilak?,” he laughed. “It’s going well in powerplay. We’re making 40-50 runs. That’s normal cricket. Now we’ve played so well in bilaterals. It happens. We also have expectations from ourself. Expectation to make 220, 240, 250,” he said.
“But wickets are a little different here. The four wickets we have played on so far were a little different and challenging. Off-spinners were not bowling earlier but are bowling now. So we have started preparation for that and hopefully we will tackle it as we start our Super 8 journey.” However Suryakumar is very satisfied with his bowling unit which keeps him in the game even during par-scores like 175-180.
“I do take a lot of pride in my bowling unit. I know that on a given day, if we ever make 170, 175, or 180 because of the high risk, high reward game we are trying to play, then we have a good bowling attack which can save the match, it can win that game,” he said.
“Look, I never thought that this team will make scores like 250, 270, 220, 230. But the way we’re playing cricket now, you’ll see in the future, if you see a start, then after that, everyone bats with the same template. But the day you don’t get a start, that day you have to think about what the team needs.” There could be dew here on Sunday but Suryakumar feels toss is an over-rated concept right now.
“I think, what I feel is toss is little bit overrated now. If you see this tournament also, lot of teams are winning the toss and also batting first in different venues. We got to bat first in all the four games. I lost, I think, three tosses out of four.
“So, if you bat well in the first innings, even if there is dew, you still have an opportunity to go out and defend if you have confidence in your bowling unit. I don’t think toss will matter a lot, but still we will see tomorrow what we want to do,” he said.
One question that was certain to crop up was ‘Law of Averages’ catching up with a well-oiled team and Suryakumar didn’t want to entertain those thoughts.
“We don’t think about it that much. Like I said, we try to stay in the present. We win so many games, but that is history now. And if you think about which game you’re playing on that given day, if you think about that, it’s not easy, it’s difficult.
“Because sometimes when you play good cricket, then from here and there, like you said, law of average, you can hear the voice. But, it’s okay, but we try to avoid that thing a little bit,” the skipper concluded. PTI
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