Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin slammed Tilak Varma’s critics after the Asian Games final against Pakistan. Ashwin criticised the naysayers, who have been questioning Varma’s strike rate in T20Is.
Varma scored an impressive knock of 51 runs off just 22 balls in the Gold medal match against Pakistan and scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 231.82. The left-hander smashed three fours and four sixes to help India post 211 runs on the board.
“Again, everybody was behind Tilak that he plays slow. See the finishing he gave here. What do you guys want? Don’t you know the class and quality that he has?” Ashwin questioned while talking in a video on his YouTube channel.
In the same video, former Indian all-rounder Vijay Shankar also praised Tilak Varma for his crucial knock in the all-important final.
“Tilak has done well in every final. In every big game. It is not easy to do that on the big stage, to step up and score important runs. The most important thing is to handle the pressure there and he is doing a great job. Adding about Dube, the score may look big but him bowling those two-three overs and taking wickets was also important at that stage. Sometimes these contributions also make the team win.”
On the other hand, Ashwin also praised Shivam Dube for playing a crucial cameo. Dube scored a fine knock of 27 runs off just 15 balls, including two fours and as many sixes.
“There were even doubts about how to place Shivam Dube in the team. But when you think of it, he played a clutch knock again. Against Australia in the 2024 T20 World Cup also he did it. This was also an incredible knock. Because of his knock and Tilak Varma and Abhishek at the start we got 211. It looked like a par score the way Pakistan also played. It was not easy on that surface,” he said.
India will next take on West Indies on Tuesday in Lucknow.
