39, 51, 49, 7, & 27 were the scores registered by Tilak Varma in the five-match T20 series against West Indies. Fearlessness, intent, and positivity were on display in all of Southpaw’s knocks. Varma’s stellar performances have called for experts to include him in the squad for the ODI World. Among the several experts, former India coach Ravi Shastri also opines that the selectors should pick Varma.
“Indian selectors know who’s the hot guy and should pick them for the World Cup. If Tilak Varma is hot, bring him in. If Yashasvi Jaiswal is hot, bring him in,” Shastri said to Star Sports.
Apart from being a fearless ball striker, the Mumbai Indians (MI) youngster also is a left-hand option at the top in a right-heavy Indian top order. Varma also offers a spin bowling option, which is an asset to the team. Shastri also backed Jaiswal to be in the ODI World Cup squad due to his stellar start in Test and T20I format.
India are expected to announce a provisional squad for the World Cup by September 5. The 18-member squad can later be trimmed to 15-member. Varma’s performances with just World Cup around the corner are giving selectors a good headache.
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Tilak Varma: Why Ravi Shastri wants Tilak Varma in the ODI World Cup squad?
- Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul (almost certainties) in the World Cup are all right-hand batters.
- There is no update yet on Shreyas Iyer regarding his full fitness, the right-hand batter used to bat at number four in ODIs and aced the role well averaging over 45.
- Varma batted at number four in the T20Is against West Indies and showed a lot of positivity.
- During the ODI series against West Indies, Suryakumar batted at number four, but he failed to nail the spot failing to score even one fifty.
- Shastri opines Varma could be an X-factor player in the ODI World squad
Not only Varma, but Shastri has also stated that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan should also be in the team. “So if you have persisted with Ishan Kishan for the last 6 to 8 months and he’s going to keep wickets, he comes in, in any case. But get two left-handers. Including Jaddu, there should be three left-handers in the top seven. Ishan Kishan has been keeping it for the last 15 months. Why go somewhere else?” Shastri said.
