 "Tilak Varma's middle overs heroics helped India clinch a tense Asia Cup final. Image: Reuters")
Going into the final, there were question marks over India’s middle order. Abhishek Sharma’s blitzes at the top of the innings were the obvious talking points. Twice in as many games, he and Shubman Gill had impactful opening partnerships – 105 against Pakistan, then 77 against Bangladesh, both in the Super Fours. Of the rest, not many had either got meaningful match-time, or did not make the most of the chances that came their way.
Leading the second brigade was Suryakumar Yadav, the captain who had a T20 Asia Cup to forget with the bat, though he marshalled his troops superbly and finished the tournament with a 7-0 record, though there was no trophy to show for their unbeaten run .
Sanju Samson had weighed in with a patchy half-century against Oman and Hardik Pandya had produced a late kick against Bangladesh, but Shivam Dube and Axar Patel had precious little to do with the bat. Indeed, until Sunday night, Dube was in the news for his exploits with the ball. But when it came to the crunch, India needed their middle order to bail them out, and that’s precisely what Nos. 4, 5 and 6 did to haul their side to a famous five-wicket conquest of Pakistan , their third win in as many Sundays against their arch-rivals.
One exception to the middle-order/middle-overs muddle was Tilak Varma. The rangy 22-year-old, as wonderful a timer of the cricket ball as there is going in international cricket, got off to starts in all but one of his five previous digs, with two scores in the 30s, a 29 and a nice unbeaten 49 in the regulation-time tie against Sri Lanka on Friday. He had quietly made his way up the run-scoring charts, though with 144 runs, he didn’t have even half the runs Abhishek had stacked up before the title round.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSaving the proverbial best for last, the left-hander uncorked the most crucial of his 30 knocks in Twenty20 International cricket, a magnificent hand magnified by the circumstances under which it was constructed. A Kuldeep Yadav-inspired collapse of epic proportions had seen Pakistan slump unchecked from 113 for one to 146 all out in 39 deliveries of unalloyed madness. But what was considered a regulation chase segued into a nightmare with India slumping to 20 for three inside four overs .
A rare panicky start for India
The law of averages caught up with Abhishek, who fell to an ungainly hoick off Faheem Ashraf off the seventh delivery of the Indian chase. Lack of runs more than form – his words, not our – caught up again with Suryakumar, expertly held at mid-off by his counterpart Salman Agha after being foxed by a Shaheen Shah Afridi off-pace ball. And when Gill perished to another slower one from Ashraf, India were in uncharted territory for more reasons than one.
For starters, Abhishek had failed to touch 30 for the first time in seven innings; for another, India were nowhere near the attacking, aggressive, destructive force they have been for a while in the Powerplay. At 20 for three, the need of the hour was commonsense and a calm head, not bluster and bravado and a misplaced sense of superiority. Egos had to be put on the backburner, the process of rebuilding needed to be undertaken with diligence and care without allowing the run rate to get totally out of hand. Tasked with those multiple challenges were Tilak and Samson, an odd couple that has seldom batted together for any significant length of time.
Their first task was to arrest the slide, to stem the rot, to ensure Pakistan did not make further inroads. If that meant taking just fives and sixes an over for three or four overs on the trot, so be it. They didn’t press the panic button; Samson played one gorgeous cover-drive off Afridi, then watched Tilak unleash a punchy backfoot drive against Ashraf followed by a signature pull that sailed over long-leg.
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That little passage didn’t signal a shift in momentum, it didn’t mark the beginning of India’s dominance. None of those three boundaries was manufactured, which was vital in the overall scheme. India had the firepower to catch up with the required rate so long as it didn’t snowball into the 11s and 12s. Tilak and Samson, getting edgy when he played a couple of dots on the trot, gently put on 57 in 50 – slow going, to a point – when the latter’s desperation gave Pakistan another look-in.
At 77 for four, Dube strode out, knowing he had plenty of work ahead of him. He had to give Tilak the support he desperately needed, but Dube couldn’t be satisfied with merely turning the strike over. India required 70 from 46 at Samson’s dismissal, one man alone couldn’t get them over the line.
Tilak, Dube come to India’s rescue
Dube has the justified reputation of destroying spin, but his first shot in anger was a wonderful backfoot punch through the covers off Haris Rauf, who had a night to forget. Taking a cue from his fellow left-hander, Tilak tucked into the express pacer in the same over with a screaming back-drive for four and a swivel-pull for six. Seventeen came off the 15th and suddenly, India were down to 47 off 30. Not a walk in the park, but doable. Definitely doable with six wickets in hand.
Every time India needed a release, one of the left-handers provided it. Dube lathered sixes off leggie Abrar Ahmed and Rauf – who else? – while Tilak worked the gaps and ran furiously. It was a well thought out plan; India wanted the well-set and more accomplished Tilak to bat through to the end, while Dube was given the job of the enforcer, which he relishes in any case. There wasn’t mindless ball-bashing at both ends, and even when Dube went full tilt, he did so with conviction and on merit, not on a wing and a prayer.
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Between Dube’s flourish and Tilak’s intelligence, India slowly but surely whittled the target down. 47 off 30 balls became 36 off 24, then 30 off 18 after a tight final over from Afridi, easily Pakistan’s best bowler of the night. Once again, India showed smarts. Instead of trying to create something out of the Afridi over, they were content with singles, believing that ten an over in the last three was comfortably within reach. Tilak was at the forefront of that approach though Dube is infinitely more experienced; the more established and accomplished batter had to assume the lead role and that’s what the Hyderabadi did, his flowing locks and a diamond stud adding dazzling style to dizzying substance.
Exactly a week previously, Tilak had finished off the chase against the same opponents with successive boundaries in the penultimate over, from Afridi. This time, as the game devolved into a last-over finish, he was on strike with India needing 10 from six. Dube had holed out off the last ball of the 19th for a terrific 22-ball 33, but as was evident during Sri Lanka’s chase 48 hours previously, 10 from the last over is anything but regulation.
Rauf had the chance to redeem a poor evening but up against him was Tilak, determined to see another chase through. A shanked two off the first ball was followed by a nerves-settling six with a mighty swing of the bat, the ball sailing into orbit over the deep mid-wicket fence. In the dugout, with only two runs standing between India and a ninth Asia Cup crown, head coach Gautam Gambhir let out a roar as he repeatedly thumped the table in front of him with both hands. Around the ground, close to 15,000 Indian supporters heaved and throbbed and swayed and sang and danced. Rinku Singh, in his first game of the tournament, smacked his first ball for four as left became right for India and victory, emotional and draining, was attained with two balls to spare.
“This is for every India,” a beaming Tilak said later. “Chak de India.” Chak de, indeed, a three-peat against Pakistan the icing on the cake. Take a bow, Tilak Varma. And savour the moment.