A month after his match-winning heroics against Pakistan in the Asia Cup final, Tilak Varma will return to action for India in the first T20I against Australia in Canberra on Wednesday. Not just is the young left-hander seeking a sturdy return from injury but he is also on the verge of a huge personal milestone that might see him overtake Rohit Sharma and be level with Suryakumar Yadav in the record books.
Tilak has till now scored 962 runs in 30 T20I matches at a batting average of 53.44 with an excellent strike rate of 149.14, this includes two hundreds and four half-centuries to his credit. He now needs just 38 runs to reach 1,000 runs in T20Is. If he does it in the very first match, he will emerge as the fourth-quickest Indian to do so, leaving behind Rohit Sharma, who had done it in 40 matches.
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If Tilak crosses the milestone in Canberra, he will join the list of Suryakumar Yadav, who had achieved the feat of reaching 1,000 T20I runs in 31 innings. The fastest Indian to reach the milestone is Virat Kohli, who achieved it in 27 innings, and then came KL Rahul (29) and Suryakumar Yadav (31). Abhishek Sharma is also heading in that direction. The explosive batsman is merely 151 runs short of reaching 1,000 T20I runs and can do so in the ongoing five-match series against Australia. Abhishek, in his 23 innings, has already scored 849 runs at a strike rate of 196.07 and an average of 36.91 with two centuries and five half-centuries to his credit.
As both young skippers continue to pile up, Indian fans will hold their breath to find out whether Tilak Varma is the latest entrant into the rarefied 1,000-run club and whether Abhishek Sharma is close behind.
