Asia Cup 2023: Tilak Varma on dream of making India debut in ODIs, says ‘Rohit bhai always…’

Cricketer Tilak Varma, who is part of India’s squad for the Asia Cup has said that skipper Rohit Sharma has always backed him and boosted his confidence when he felt a bit nervous.

Tilak made his T20I debut in the recently concluded India-West Indies five-match series and impressed fans with his composure and maturity on the field.

In five matches, he scored 173 runs at an average of 57.66, with one half-century and a strike rate of around 139. Being part of India’s Asia Cup squad, Varma could end up making his ODI debut. The left-handed batter talked about how Rohit has backed him even during the time he played in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

“Rohit bhai always backed me when I was playing in the IPL also. I was a bit nervous at the start so he came to me and talked about the game and said always enjoy your game and always feel free whenever you want to talk, you can come anytime to me or text me and I will be there for you anytime. Every time he talked of enjoying the game, so that’s what I am doing,” Tilak said in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on ‘X’. 

The young batter also talked about his recent performances.”I never dreamed that I would be debuting directly in the Asia Cup that too on the one-day side. I always dreamed of debuting for India in ODIs, in a single year I got the T20 debut and in the next month I am getting a call for Asia Cup it is one of my dreams and I am just preparing for it,” Tilak said. 

India will begin their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan on September 2 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka. 

India’s Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.