A 22-ball 51 is as strong a statement as any finisher can make and Tilak Varma, who prefers the batting at No. 3, has done more than enough to silence the naysayers who questioned his suitability for the job.
The Hyderabad batter has been elevated to the vice-captaincy role, and is embracing the responsibility by making the finisher’s role his own.
Rinku Singh was designated for the role in the 2026 T20 World Cup cycle, but he didn’t really get the opportunities he deserved. But with the left-hander now out of the T20I set-up and Hardik Pandya‘s persistent injuries, Varma has stepped up for the team.
Switching from his preferred batting positions to a contrasting role can be difficult for a player and the 23-year-old also took time to settle into the finisher’s role, having a tricky start on the Ireland tour with scores of 19 off 21 balls and 55 off 46 balls, which raised doubts about whether Team India was utilising him well.
Tilak shed light on how difficult this transition has been for him.
“It has been tough. You can easily shift from No.3 to 4 or from opening to No.3 because it’s not a big difference. But shifting from 3 or 4 to No.6 or 7 has been really tough. Yet, if that’s the team’s requirement, there is no option. You have to earn that position, and I’ve worked a lot in practice and mentally to bat at different positions,” Tilak said on Star Sports.
When Tilak was bursting onto the scene in the Indian team, then-captain Suryakumar Yadav sacrificed his No. 3 spot because Tilak wanted it.
The batter didn’t disappoint his skipper and smashed back-to-back T20I centuries against South Africa in November 2024 – 107* in Centurion and then followed it up with an unbeaten 120 in Johannesburg.
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Tilak – the vice-captain turning up as a finisher
And now, with his elevation to vice-captaincy, he has sacrificed his spot to help the team strike the right balance. In recent matches, the results have started to go Tilak’s way. He scored a 29-ball 60 against Zimbabwe, giving a glimpse of what he can do. Rinku was also part of the XI in that match, but the way Tilak batted only made it even tougher for the UP batter to retain his place.
Since the start of this year, Tilak has batted at number 5 or lower in 19 innings in which he scored 427 runs at a strike rate of 158.73, which includes four half-centuries.
The 23-year-old opened up about the process he has followed, which has begun to yield results as he has mentally prepared himself to take on the lower-middle-order role for the team.
“I’ve worked on remaining still and smashing the ball against yorkers in the end overs. When you bat down the order, the ball comes slower compared to when it hits the seam and comes through when you bat in the top order. The total mechanics change, and I’ve accepted mentally that I have to be able to do a job in the lower middle-order,” he said.
