He might be just 22, but Tilak Varma – for the rest of his cricketing career – has an innings to be remembered by. He walked in at 10/2, saw it soon become 20/3. India were playing Pakistan. It was the Asia Cup Final. The stakes were as high as they get.

But there’s no way skipper Suryakumar Yadav was getting stressed.

“When we were in South Africa, where he made two hundreds in T20Is, we understood that Tilak Varma has arrived. But the asli (real) Tilak Varma arrived in the Asia Cup final,” he said in a chat with Vimal Kumar on his Youtube channel.

69 runs | 53 balls | 3 fours | 4 sixes.

TV was happy putting himself through the grind. He was happy shedding shots. He was happy playing the waiting game. He was happy soaking it all in.

“If you had noticed, the reverse sweep and the switch hit is his favourite shot. So much so that he can’t stay without playing it. But if you saw in the final, he didn’t play it even once,” SKY said.

“This is the discipline I am talking about. To get that at such a young age is creditable. The way he controlled the chase, sometimes there were more runs and lesser balls, but he knew it. During the first drinks break, Gauti bhai (Gambhir) went in and told him to play till the end and win the game. That’s exactly what he did. It’s easier said than done. Only the person playing knows how the game is going, what the situation is. To stay cool and calm in such a situation is incredible.”

It runs in the blood, the blood that is Blue and Gold. Moments like these are exactly what our boys have trained for. Ever since he came into the Mumbai setup as an 18-year-old in 2022 fresh from the under-19 World Cup, he’s been put through the fire test. And he’s come out of it, hardened, ready! 

“All of us, myself, (Jasprit) Bumrah, Tilak, Rohit (Sharma), Hardik (Pandya), the team we play for before India, Mumbai Indians, is like a Gurukul. It is an institution. Parampara, pratishtha, anushasan,” Surya said.

“They make players in that gurukul. Everyone comes to that family as students. They come, study, practice, give exams (matches). The situations in which we bat, we try to replicate it when we play for India. So when he played for India, Tilak was prepared. He had played such knocks. He had played in such situations. He knew what he had to do.”

You’ve been our pride, TV! Here's to many more.