IPL 2026: Tilak Varma’s return to form offers Mumbai Indians a way forward

AHMEDABAD: Southpaw Tilak Varma had made 43 runs from 32 balls in five innings prior to his maiden IPL century on Monday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The noise surrounding his batting form was getting heavier with every passing match. Answering all those questions, the 23-year-old reinforced his value to the team with a knock that was composed and aggressive in equal measure. His 101 off 45 balls, studded with seven sixes and eight fours, took MI to 199/5, a total that proved too steep for the Gujarat Titans (GT), who lost by 99 runs.

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Coming in at the crease when Titans new-ball operator Kagiso Rabada was breathing fire and cranking up the speedometer with his thunderbolts, Tilak commenced his knock by nudging around for ones and twos and playing the odd dot ball, but crucially steadying the ship along with Naman Dhir to bring a semblance of calm to the Mumbai Indians innings. His innings was composed of two parts — the first 22 balls yielded only 19 runs, without a single hit to the fence. The rest of the innings was a blur of fours and sixes, an exhibition of unstoppable power hitting.

Tilak’s childhood coach, Salam Bayash reflected on the slight changes the batter has made to his game. “I told him to spend some time at the crease before going for shots and also to cut down on the reverse sweep and play straight. The pitch wasn’t that easy to bat on and the Titans’ attack was a good one. I’m happy with his century. He played no reverse sweeps. Almost all his shots were either straight or played square,” Bayash said.

Even the opposition was left in awe. Gujarat batting coach Matthew Hayden, in particular, was left gushing. “It was visible that the pitch had cracks, it was up and down. All credit to Tilak Varma, who put in a wonderful performance from 46/3. I once spoke to a fisherman and asked him a question about longevity in his life and in his career, and he said that when there’s plenty of fish around, everyone catches fish. But what he (Varma) did was that he caught fish when no one else was catching fish,” the former Australian opener said.