CHENNAI: When Tilak Varma says he loves playing red-ball cricket and grew up wanting to play Test cricket for India, it might come across as an in-form young elite cricketer projecting his ambitions to be an all-format player. And it could well be true. His last three red-ball scores in the Duleep Trophy as South Zone skipper read — 99, 51 n.o, and 116 n.o.
However, beneath that, there is more. Though the world has seen Tilak come up as the Mumbai Indians star in the Indian Premier League and grow into becoming a T20I regular and vice-captain of the team in the format, the 23-year-old has another face to him. One that earned him the reputation and a Ranji Trophy debut shortly after he turned 16.
The 23-year-old has always been looked at as a batting prodigy. And with good reason. At 13, he was the leading run-scorer in the South Zone Inter State Under-14 Tournament 2015-16 with 463 runs in six innings. A year later, he finished as the best batter in the Vijay Merchant Trophy 2016-17 with 956 runs in 12 innings.
By the time he played his second Cooch Behar Trophy in 2018-19, Tilak, 16 at the time, was ready for the challenge. He scored four centuries in as many U19 matches, earned his Ranji debut, came back to U19 and U23 all in a span of two months. Between November 19, 2018 and January 23, 2019, Tilak scored 960 runs across six U19 and a U23 match at 87.27 average while opening the batting in red-ball cricket.
In the years that followed, he graduated to India U19, and then the IPL and white- ball teams. So much so that since his first-class debut in December 2018, Tilak has featured in only eight Ranji games and 25 overall. Which is why, even as South Zone are out of the contest in the Duleep Trophy final against East Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Tilak has relished every chance he has gotten to bat against the red-ball.
"I have played many years with the red-ball. But at the same point, see if you have seen since last few years, I have been playing white-ball cricket a lot. Red ball, I do love a lot, but at the same point I’m good at white ball now. But as I said, red ball has always been my favourite game, so it’s my A game," he explained after Day 4.
While conceding that East out-batted them in the contest, Tilak understands the significance of his knocks in the semifinal and the final. He explained his stoic approach during the 211-ball 99 in the final considering the match situation while reiterating his ability to take the attack to opposition if the need arises. What has helped him over the last few months is the leadership role which allowed him to grow as a captain and a batter. "If you see now, we have got quite a few youngsters, and also India A when I led the side, we were also quite a young side as well. When you have that great talent and that eagerness to win from each and every individual player, then it is easy for you as a captain also to win the tournament. I have learned many things: captaining domestic, India A, coming again here. "Sometimes the conditions won’t be in your favour, but how you use the players, how quickly you adapt to the players off the field also. When you read your players' mind off the field, how they are, you can use them, especially in the white-ball games, under pressure. Who can be your player? That will be very crucial for a captain. When you spend time off the field with your own teammates, you'll be knowing very much when you are under pressure, you can use them very well," the 23-year-old elaborated.
Tilak, while making it clear about his Test ambitions, is also very much aware of the constraints in terms of the packed white-ball schedule which makes him unavailable for most part of the domestic season. Even now, after the Duleep Trophy final, Tilak will join the India T20I team for the Afghanistan series before flying out to Japan for the Asian Games. Two days after the continental event, India will play a five-T20I series against the West Indies before travelling to New Zealand for the same number of matches. One look at the schedule at the moment, between now and November 1, Tilak will have little to no time away from the Indian team to play red-ball cricket.
"I always say to everyone that I want to play red-ball cricket for India. That's my biggest goal, because I really love playing red-ball cricket. And I always said that I thought as a kid like I'll be playing Test cricket first and after that white-ball cricket. Let's see how it goes," he laughed when asked if he would love to have more time for playing domestic red-ball cricket.
Tilak, for now, has made it clear about his red-ball ambitions not just with words, but also with the bat. Only time will tell what holds in the future for the 23-year-old in whites.