How fast the night changes! In the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) match against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 4, Tilak Varma was retired out by captain Hardik Pandya due to his sluggish innings. In the next game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Tilak scored a glorious half-century which kept MI in the game.
Retired out in the last match
Tilak, who was struggling due to a palm injury, was taken off the field and replaced with Mitchell Santner. Although the 22-year-old was at his physical best, being taken off the field and the inability to perform when his team needed him the most would have hurt him.
Tilak Varma’s strong comeback
Against RCB, Tilak reached the middle with MI far behind in the match. He entered when his team was 79/3 after 9.4 overs. They still required 143 runs from 62 balls. It was going to be a herculean task. But Tilak was up for it. Needing more than 2 runs per ball, he had to start smashing the ball from the get-go.
On his first ball, he hit a four. Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed from the other end, and while Hardik Pandya was going berserk, Tilak was waiting for his chance. When he was on strike, he took down Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal. It seemed MI would win, and then Bhuvneshwar claimed his revenge.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar strikes to end the brilliant knock of Tilak Varma on
— InsideSport (@InsideSportIND) April 7, 2025
: JioStar #MIvRCB #IPL2025 #Wankhede #Insidesport #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/lsH6ofqrsi
In the 18th over of the second innings, the pacer deceived him. Tilak had scored a half-century by then, 56 (29). But the southpaw wouldn’t have enjoyed his knock. He would have wanted MI to win, and that couldn’t happen. But the knock shows that his sluggish knock was a one-off, and he remains one of the best batters that MI has.
Editor's Pick
Cricket
Rishabh Pant not the only one! Here are big-money players flopping at IPL 2025
Top Stories
