India Vs West Indies 2023: Tilak Varma Should Be Tried At No 4 Position In ODI, Feels Aakash Chopra

Young batter Tilak Varma scored an unbeaten 49 in India's seven-wicket win over West Indies in third T20I on Tuesday.

India's Tilak Varma en route to scoring 49 against West Indies in the third T20 match. (Photo: AP)

Team India batter Tilak Varma has been their most impressive performer after the first three games of the five-match T20I series so far. After making his debut in the first T20I match against West Indies last week, Tilak has notched up 139 runs in their first three innings, including an unbeaten 49 in the third T20I win over West Indies on Tuesday.

The Mumbai Indians batter is just 21 years of age and has equalled Suryakumar Yadav’s record of most T20I runs after first three innings. Only Deepak Hooda among Indian batters has scored more runs that Tilak Varma – 172 runs.

India won the third T20I of the five-match series by seven wickets, after going 0-2 down after the first two games. Tilak Varma, who made his India debut in this series, continued his good form and scored his third consecutive thirty-plus score.

JioCinema expert Pragyan Ojha recently tweeted that Varma should be fast-tracked into the No. 4 spot for Team India in ODIs. JioCinema expert Aakash Chopra seconded Ojha’s view but said there is another aspect to it.

“Generally, we tend to forget people who are not there. This has been a continuous debate happening around the No. 4 position. We even talked about it during the ODI series. We saw three different batters at that position, Axar Patel was also tried at that position, even though he wasn’t a candidate for that position. At that time, we were still discussing Shreyas Iyer or KL Rahul, right? When they are back, I think Tilak must wait. But at this point in time, if we don’t see them, then why not, Tilak can be tried,” former India opener Aakash Chopra said.

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— Tilak Varma (@TilakV9) August 9, 2023

Another JioCinema expert and former India left-arm pacer RP Singh concurred with Chopra and Ojha. “He has successfully ticked all the boxes, and the most impressive aspect of his batting lies in his fearless approach right from the first ball. He doesn't merely swing for the sake of swinging; instead, he evaluates where to place the ball. His profound understanding of the game, including its pace and rhythm, enables him to take calculated risks. I feel he is prepared, with his performances in the domestic circuit and IPL, all of that is in his head that he has played such good innings but when you play a match at the international level you need to prepare well knowing which bowlers are there and to which bowler will you be hitting those big shots,” RP Singh said.