India batsman Tilak Varma stated on Wednesday that the team is eager for the high-pressure match against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup on February 15 now that the suspense is over.
Following pressure from the International Cricket Council and other member countries, Pakistan made a dramatic U-turn from boycotting the highly anticipated match against India in Colombo.
“To be honest, we are very excited to play. We got to know that the match is going to take place day before. We are ready to play. We are watching all the teams. We are watching the bowlers and the batsmen. All the players and team members are ready to play. Now, we are in the match zone. The planning will start,” PTI quoted Tilak as saying on the eve of the Namibia game in Delhi on Thursday.
Pakistan has an edge because they have been stationed in Sri Lanka for a long time and will be playing all of their games there, according to India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate.
Speaking further about the game, Tilak continued: “We are going one by one in every match, so we will see, we have video analysis, we have the technology, so we will see how we are playing, how the wicket is behaving, we have already prepared, so everyone has different shots in their team, so the shots that we have to play in the wicket, the bowlers we have to target.”
Tilak, who is known for his aggressive hitting, also said that he and India captain Suryakumar Yadav can drop anchor if necessary during the current T20 World Cup. In their opening match of the tournament against the USA on February 7, India lost six wickets in short succession before coming back to win easily.
“Head coach (Gautam Gambhir) has asked us to play cautiously if wickets fall in a cluster like it did against USA. Suryakumar bhai and I can perform the role of anchor if needed,” Tilak said.
After missing the first game, he said that star pacer Jasprit Bumrah is fit enough to play on Thursday.
“Jasprit Bumrah is fit and available for tomorrow’s game against Namibia.”
In warm-up matches, Tilak showed his form and readiness by scoring 38 off 24 against the USA and 48 off 19 against South Africa.
“Happy that I am back in the World Cup side. The only aim is to help team win the cup. Even when I was not playing, I was visualising winning games for India,” he said.
