Tilak Varma Becomes 2nd Indian Batter After Suryakumar Yadav To Create 'This' Fascinating Record
Tilak Varma in action against WI (Twitter)
Tilak Varma had a debut to remember in Tarouba when he took field against West Indies for the first time in international cricket. Inducted into the Indian team off the back of stellar IPL seasons for Mumbai Indians, the youngster showed no first-game jitters to whack 39 runs in a tense run-chase.
Moreover, he started off his innings with a six, while facing only the second ball of his international career. He dispatched another maximum off the very next delivery to leave senior West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph in tatters.
Through his sparkling debut, the 20-year-old batting star emulated two of his Mumbai Indians teammates, and Rishabh Pant, for a rare deed in international cricket.
Tilak Varma shares this feat with Suryakumar Yadav
Tilak Varma registered his first set of runs in international cricket with successive sixes on debut against West Indies in August 2023.
Notably, his senior Indian teammate Suryakumar Yadav had also achieved something similar on his debut innings back in 2021. The Mumbai Indians star made his international debut through a T20I against England in March that year. While he did not get a chance to bat in the game, the right-hander eventually stepped into the crease later in the same series.
Off the very first ball of his career, Yadav pulled English speed demon Jofra Archer over fine leg for a six to open his account. Overall, the cricketer listed a scintillating 57 in the match, which Team India took home by eight runs.
While Varma and Yadav’s milestones sound similar, there are quite a few notable differences between the two batting deeds. Though the youngster launched two successive sixes on debut off his second and third deliveries, the latter did so once but off the first ball of his career.
Meanwhile, another Mumbai Indians star, Ishan Kishan, opened his account with a six, albeit in ODI cricket. The dashing wicketkeeper cleared the long-on boundary against Dhananjaya de Silva while facing the first ball of his ODI career. Kishan, however, had already played international cricket for Team India through a bunch of T20I matches before.
Similarly, Rishabh Pant launched his Test career with a six off Adil Rashid during the 2018 Nottingham Test. Much like fellow wicketkeeper Kishan, Pant also had prior international experience through another format for the Indian team.
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