Former Indian selector Kris Srikkanth said he won’t drop Tilak Varma from India’s playing XI for the Super 8 clash against Zimbabwe. Varma was dismissed for a solitary run against South Africa at Ahmedabad on Sunday. Varma has managed 107 runs in five matches of the World Cup at an average of 21.40 and a strike rate of 118.88. The left-hander wasn’t able to convert his starts into substantial scores in the group stage.

Meanwhile, Rinku Singh has left the squad to attend a family emergency as his father is not well. Srikkanth said Axar Patel should replace Washington Sundar whereas Sanju Samson can come in place of Rinku Singh. Srikkanth recalled that Varma had scored 72 runs off 55 balls against England at Chennai in 2025.

Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Tilak Varma has scored a few 20s. He scored a crucial 20-odd against Pakistan. I won’t drop him for this match. The wicket will be placid in Chennai, so he shouldn’t be dropped for this match. Last year, he played a brilliant knock against England here. So it’ll only be Axar Patel for Washington Sundar and Sanju Samson for Rinku Singh.

“Looking at what transpired in the nets, it looks like Sanju Samson will open the batting with Abhishek Sharma. Sanju batted first, and then Kishan batted. So Sanju will open with Abhishek Sharma, and Ishan Kishan will come at No.3. Axar Patel will come in place of Washington Sundar. If Samson replaces Rinku, Axar has to come in for Sundar, which I feel is not right. But they have no other choice.”

The 1983 World Cup winning player is confident that India will perform well against Zimbabwe and the West Indies.

“We should not get alarmed. We lost to a good team, fair enough. You can lose one match. India will smash West Indies and Zimbabwe as the team is too powerful for those two,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).

India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Thursday.