NEW DELHI: India captain Hardik Pandya heaped praise on debutant Tilak Varma for his exceptional display during the first T20I against the West Indies. Though India lost the match by 4 runs, Tilak's fearless six-hitting approach on debut stole the spotlight.
Tilak, who scored 39 off 22 balls, took only one ball to understand the nature of the pitch. With this understanding, he confidently dispatched the next two deliveries soaring into the stands with his fearless six-hitting skills.
His impressive knock was studded with 3 sixes and 2 boundaries.
"Very pleasing to see the way he started his innings. Not a bad way to start your international cricket with a couple of sixes. There's confidence and the fearlessness they have. They are going to do wonders for India."
1/10:1st T20I: West Indies stun India by 4 runs
AFP
2/10:West Indies beat India
<p>West Indies won the opening Twenty20 International by 4 runs on Thursday as India flopped in pursuit of a modest 150-run target at the Brian Lara Stadium. </p>AP
3/10:Rovman Powell
<p>Captain Rovman Powell top-scored with 48 in his 32-ball knock as the West Indies made 149-6 after winning the toss and opting to bat. </p>AFP
4/10:Nicholas Pooran
<p>Nicholas Pooran fell for 41, but the West Indies were restricted to only 21 off the final three overs. </p>AFP
5/10:Yuzvendra Chahal
<p>Yuzvendra Chahal trapped Kyle Mayers leg-before for one and removed fellow opener Brandon King (28) the same way two balls later. </p>AFP
6/10:T20 specialists
<p>Well-placed at 77-3 in the 11th over thanks to debutant Tilak Varma's top score of 39 and 21 from Suryakumar Yadav, India lost six wickets for just 68 runs. </p>AFP
7/10:Tilak Varma
<p>Tilak Varma hit three sixes in his 22-ball innings, with two of his sixes came in the first three balls he faced from Alzarri Joseph. </p>AFP
8/10:Fine debut
<p>Tilak Varma's innings ended on the last ball of the 11th over when he was caught at fine leg by Hetmyer off Romario Shepherd with the total at 77. </p>AFP
9/10:Suryakumar Yadav
<p>Suryakumar Yadav's was the third wicket to fall, brilliantly caught by Hetmyer who dived to his left at short extra cover off Jason Holder. </p>AFP
10/10:Hardik Pandya
<p>Skipper Hardik Pandya (19), Axar Patel (13) and Singh (12) all made useful contributions but struggled to force the pace on a slow pitch. </p>APHardik said that India were in control of the game for most of the time but a few errors led to their downfall.
"We were right in the chase and quite comfortable there. We made some errors which cost us the game which is fine. A young team will make mistakes. We will grow together. Throughout the game, we were in control of the game which was the positive in this game. Good four games coming ahead. In T20 cricket, if you lose wickets, it becomes difficult to chase down any total, that's exactly what happened. A couple of hits can change the momentum towards you. When we lost a couple of wickets, that halted our chase," Hardik added.
The second T20I will be played on Sunday.
