Indian batter Tilak Verma on Saturday gave the general public a piece of his mind on when he came out to bat during the first IND vs AUS T20I in Visakhapatnam. The left-handed batsmen got out against the Aussies trying to sweep leg spinner Tanveer Sangha. Tilak opened up on his decision to attack the leg spinner in the pre-match press conference before the second T20I.
The 21-year-old, who plies trade for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, has played 11 T20Is so far after making his debut against West Indies in August this year. He has scored 243 runs in his short stint with the national team in T20Is with a highest score of 55.
The left-handed batter came down to bat at number five in the first T20I against Australia. The game was tight as India needed over 10 runs an over to triumph over the Aussies.
Tilak Verma got off to a steady start, hitting two fours. However, his innings was cut short by Tanveer Sangha who picked up his wicket.
Talking about the conference, Tilak said, “My mindset was like, in that situation, the leg spinner was bowling, so I want to take charge because we want 10 per over in that situation.
“So at that time, my mindset was clear. If the leg spinner is bowling, I’ll go after him. So for fast bowlers, settled batter and captain Surya bhai [Suryakumar Yadav] was batting. I was confident that he could finish against the fast bowlers. So especially that over I want to charge the leg spinner,” Tilak said.
In the end, it was Rinku Singh who finished the game for India in the last ball. Tilak also opened up on how he is learning from Rinku Singh’s finishing abilities.
“I like finishing the games but I am learning from Rinku. He is doing very consistently for India. I also want to do the same. So, I think in coming matches I will be looking to do that,” he said.