We Want To See Fear in Opposition Bowlers: Tilak Varma

Chennai: Tilak Varma backed India to stick to their aggressive template in the ongoing T20 World Cup even if they lose early wickets, saying it instills fear in opposition bowlers. Indian batsmen fired together to post a stunning 256 for four against Zimbabwe in a must-win Super 8 match here on Thursday, with the strong performance resulting in the home team registering a 72-run win.

“We’re just looking for that. We’re just looking for it individually… I’m not saying individually – we’re looking for runs (as a team). We also discussed that no matter what the situation is, if we get out in the powerplay, like three or four wickets, we’ll bat with the same rhythm,” Tilak said in the post-match press conference. he said.

In this context, Tilak praised Sanju Samson, who replaced Rinku Singh in the 11th over, as he helped Kerala opener (24, 15b) Abhishek Sharma add 48 runs in just 3.4 overs.

“It’s important for the openers to get off to a good start, it also gives the same confidence to number three, four and five (batsmen). That’s what Sanju started off with great. That’s what we discussed and we want to see the fear in the opposition bowlers that these guys (Indian batsmen) are ready to hit every ball,” he added.

Indian batsmen faltered badly in the Super Eights opener against South Africa and Tilak said the players watched videos of previous T20 games to refresh their memory of a successful batting plan ahead of the Chepauk match.

“As we talked about just before the match, we will go out with a good mentality. We have seen the last year of T20 cricket, how we play.

“So, after watching that video, everyone gained our confidence and we discussed as a team that we enjoyed it and smiled,” he said.

Tilak said head coach Gautam Gambhir also encouraged the team members to play their natural game without any restrictions.

“Gautam sir, whatever the situation may be, just remember the brand of cricket that we have played since last year and also in the New Zealand and South Africa series (at home). So, whatever the situation is, go out there as an individual and smile and enjoy the game,” he said.

Tilak said watching videos of previous matches and Gambhir’s motivational words brought a change in the batsmen’s mindset.

“Ahmedabad’s wicket was also good, Delhi’s wicket was also good. But it is a funny game, so mentality is very important. I think we had the mentality that if a wicket falls, we will take some time (to bowl big shots). We played the same team in the last series and before that too,” he said.

“At that time, we were enjoying the pressure on the opposite bowler. If the wicket fell, we would hit 6 off the next ball. So, we had a small mentality. We were going from 1-2 (runs) to fours and sixes. We argued that if the first ball was in range, then we would bat from the first ball.

“So the pitcher starts to think he’s going to get hit. So there’s been a lot of change in that (mentality). We felt very good as a team and we’re going to continue to take that intensity even further,” he explained.