According to Mohammad Kaif, Tilak Varma needs to improve his batting against spinners because the southpaw struggles to rotate strike, let alone score boundaries.
Tilak, who was selected India’s vice-captain before the UK visit, has only managed to score 37 runs in three innings so far in the current five-T20I series against England.
Even though Kaif is an Indian hitter, he expressed amazement at the Mumbai Indians cricketer’s spin issues.
“He needs to work on strengthening his resistance to spin. To be honest, I’m shocked that an Indian hitter finds it so difficult to deal with spin. He can’t even rotate the strike, let alone hit boundaries. In order to keep the scoreboard moving, many players who are unable to attack spin at least take singles and doubles. In a conversation on his YouTube channel, Kaif stated, “Tilak isn’t even doing that.”
In the third Twenty20 International, Tilak scored just three runs off of eleven deliveries before Will Jacks’ off-spin stumped him. Tilak Varma was bluntly called “risky for his place in the team” by Mohammad Kaif, who said that his inability to rotate strike is placing pressure on the southpaw and ultimately leading to his downfall.
Dot balls continue to accumulate as a result. Then, just like he did when he was stumped, he gets out because he feels pressured to make a big shot. I’m quite worried about his ability to withstand spin because of this. Not even much of the ball is turning. He finds it difficult to score if you just slightly alter the tempo and bowl in the proper places.
In an effort to compensate for the dot balls he faces against spinners, Kaif claims that Tilak targets the fast bowlers at the end of the innings.
However, the former cricket player turned guru said that this is a risky tactic because if he is out in multiple games without racing against the pacers, the dot balls he comes across while the spinners are bowling could come back to harm India.
“He needs to get better at dealing with spin. If not, he will continue to become stuck in T20 cricket. He was on 3 runs off 11 balls even yesterday. You frequently see him on 19 off 19 because of this.
He can’t find boundaries in the middle overs and plays too many dot balls against spin. He then begins hitting boundaries and covering it up when the death overs come. However, it is extremely dangerous to be on 20 runs off 20 balls in the middle overs, according to Kaif.
“His position on the team is also at jeopardy. You’ve merely put pressure on yourself if you get out after scoring 20 off 20 because you were unable to score fast enough. In the middle overs, he needs to learn how to strike boundaries against spin. That is Tilak’s greatest obstacle,” he continued.
India is suffering consecutive T20I series losses after dropping two of the first three matches against England. England leads the series 2-0 with two games left. The fourth Twenty20 International will be held at County Ground in Bristol on Thursday, July 9.
