India vs Pakistan: Childhood coach watches Tilak in blue for first time from stands
CHENNAI: India's Tilak Varma might not be content with his relatively subdued innings of 24-ball 25 against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday. Despite not that eye-pleasing outing, he has a reason to cheer as his childhood coach Salam Bayash was watching him from the stands. What made it even more special was the fact that the coach was in the stadium for an international match for the first time.
Bayash has been training children for more than two decades. With Hyderabad regularly hosting international matches every year, the coach got ample opportunities to visit the stadium and enjoy the matches. However, he was never interested. "I keep getting complimentary tickets but I always distribute them to my students and their parents. It was my dream to watch my student play an international match from the stadium and today I realised it," Bayash told this daily.
Bayash's association with Tilak started when the cricketer was 10-11 years old. The day being a holiday, the coach reached the Abbas Stadium in Barkas to meet his fellow coaches. There he saw Tilak taking much older boys to the cleaners while playing with a tennis ball. "I asked him where he stays and then I went to meet his father, an electrician with a PSU. They are a middle-class family. The father expressed his inability to drop off and pick Tilak to my academy which is 40km away. So I took the responsibility to pick him up in the morning at around 5 AM. He was a kid then so he used to sleep while pillion riding with me. But after three to four months, I convinced his father to shift near to my academy and he agreed. This made it possible for Tilak to focus only on his cricket and not spend too much time and energy on travel," Bayash had told this daily ahead of Tilak's ODI debut incidentally at the same venue.
The association, which began more than a decade ago, continued at the Legala Cricket Academy, Lingampally and is still going on strong. Before the 2026 T20 World Cup match in Colombo, Bayash had watched Tilak in Mumbai Indians' colours at the Wankhede Stadium. "Hyderabad has been hosting IPL matches since the maiden season in 2008 but I never had that urge to go to the stadium. I eventually went to the Wankhede to see Tilak in action."
The coach also expressed his gratitude towards the Legala Academy and Hyderabad Cricket Association for helping him groom Tilak as a world-class cricketer. "The Legala Academy and Hyderabad association provided immense support and provided necessary infrastructure for Tilak's training. Without all that, it was not possible and I am thankful to them as I watch him wearing the India jersey and representing the country in the T20 World Cup," the coach concludes.
Tilak, who also occasionally bowls off spin, even got his name to the wicket column as he sent back all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz. He could have another but he dropped Shaheen Shah Afridi off his bowling to end with 1/11 from his two overs. In the end, it turned out to be a good debut match for the coach as his ward played a key role in India's eighth win over arch-rivals Pakistan extending their head-to-head record to 8-1 in the marquee event.