Former cricketers Tom Moody and Sanjay Manjrekar have expressed their support for India’s decision to choose the young talent Tilak Varma for the team for the 2023 Asia Cup. This choice was made public on August 21 during a press conference where Indian captain Rohit Sharma and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar introduced the team.
The squad consisted of 18 players, with Sanju Samson chosen as a reserve. Among them, young star Tilak Varma won his place owing to his excellent performance in the Indian Premier League while representing the Mumbai Indians with 300 plus runs to his name in the previous two seasons. His amazing performance also opened the path for his international debut. At the age of 20, Tilak earned his T20I debut during a recent visit to the West Indies. His performance soon drew attention as he emerged as the highest run-scorer for India, scoring 173 runs in five innings with an amazing average of 57.66 and a strike rate above 140. This included a well-played half-century of 51 runs and an unbeaten 49 runs.
Tilak Varma is currently in “red-hot” form, according to Sanjay Manjrekar, who also noted that the youthful talent has no obvious weaknesses. Notably, Varma is also being considered as a potential answer to the left-hander conundrum in the Indian middle-order, which has been frequently right-hander heavy lately.
“He is in hot form. Look at his domestic career, he’s got the numbers to merit a call for India. And also, tongue in cheek, he is also getting ready for 50-overs cricket by failing in his last two matches in the T20 format. So, he is getting ready for 50-over cricket. It is hard to find a weakness in him, in white-ball cricket. And as I’ve mentioned before, let’s have some impact, quality players at number four, five, and six. There’s a tremendous rush for spots number one, two, and three, in Indian cricket, let’s have these number four, five, six batters out there,” Manjrekar said this on Star Sports.
Tom Moody Also Praises India’s Decision To Include Tilak Varma In Asia Cup Squad
Concurring with the perspective shared by his fellow panelist Sanjay Manjrekar, Tom Moody, the former Australian cricketer, and a well-respected coach, emphasized the diverse skills that Tilak brings to the team.
“I think it’s a wonderful selection. I’ll call it brave, but I also call it in the same breath smart. He is clearly a player on the rise, as I touched on earlier. He’s got not only skill but an enormous temperament, and he is showing that on a regular basis. We have talked about the value of left-handedness in the top order, so him coming in at that number five or six position is going to be valuable for India, particularly to have that balance against spin,” Moody said.
Team India will commence their journey on September 2nd with a match against their arch-rivals, Pakistan, at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The much-anticipated squad announcement was made on Monday, August 21st. The Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, revealed a robust 17-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023.
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