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WI vs IND 2023 | Tilak Varma Breaks Ishan Kishan, Rahul Dravid’s T20I Record With Whirlwind Debut

image-lkvknilaTilak Varma with Suryakumar Yadav on debut (Twitter)

Tilak Varma turned up for Team India in the first T20I of their five-match series against West Indies in Trinidad. The series opener also turned out to be the first of his international career, and the youngster received his maiden T20I cap from none other than skipper Hardik Pandya prior to the contest.

While the ‘Men in Blue’ fell on the wrong side in the game, Varma himself had a debut to remember as he smacked 39 attacking runs and pulled off a sensational running catch in the field.

Notably, through the course of his 39-run knock, the 20-year-old has now broken a rare T20I record for India, one which was previously held by his current teammate Ishan Kishan and head coach Rahul Dravid.

Tilak Varma’s scorching 39 breaks a rare record

Tilak Varma made his international debut in West Indies off the back of two prolific IPL seasons with the bat for Mumbai Indians.

Playing the series-opening T20I against hosts, the youngster showed no first-game jitters as he gatecrashed West Indies’ party with counterattacking 39 off just 22 balls.Remarkably, Tilak unlocked a rare T20I landmark for India, which was previously held by his Team India and IPL teammate Ishan Kishan.

The cricketer scored his runs at a strike-rate of 177.27, thus beating Kishan to hold the highest strike-rate among Indian batters on their T20I debuts, while scoring a minimum of 30 runs.

The dashing wicketkeeper from Ranchi held the previous record when he blasted England in a home game with his 32-ball 56, thus maintaining a strike-rate of 175. Ajinkya Rahane (156.41) and current head coach Rahul Dravid (147.61) on their respective debuts hold the next best strike-rate records among Indian T20I debutants.

The Indian team, trailing 0-1 in the series, will now go up against West Indies in the second match set to be hosted by the Providence Stadium. The much-awaited contest will be played on August 6.