Tilak Varma placed on same pedestal as MS Dhoni by Ex-India star

Former India National Cricket Team batter Sanjay Manjrekar has compared the youngster Tilak Varma to the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni.

Sanjay Manjrekar made this huge comparison after the sensational batting performance of Tilak Varma in the second T20I against the England National Cricket Team at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.

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Tilak Varma emerged as a lone warrior in Chennai T20I

The 22-year-old Tilak Varma was the lone warrior for India National Cricket Team in the second T20I. He played a stellar innings to steer his team to the triumph and take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Varma started off his innings with aggression and took the English bowlers to the cleaners. He particularly destroyed the premier pacer Jofra Archer as he smashed 30 runs off 9 balls.

After starting off aggressive initially, Varma had to play a little cautiously in the middle overs as India lost wickets at regular intervals. Tilak Varma showcased a calm approach and didn't let the wickets falling impact his game.

He took the game to the final over and finished off the match with a four. Tilak Varma also won the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 72-run knock.

He was quite happy to virtually be there till the end - Sanjay Manjrekar

Speaking on ESPNCricinfo's Timeout after the match, Manjrekar stated that Varma had immense confidence in his abilities to take India past the finish line as he didn't panic even when the boundaries weren't coming.

"Absolutely. The confidence he has that he will be able to see India through the very end and even in this run chase, there was no panic around the 18th over," he stated.

"Even in the 19th over, you could see that India wasn’t getting the boundary that could take the pressure off. But he was quite happy to virtually be there till the end," Manjrekar added.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had the same confidence - Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar added that the confidence shown by Tilak Varma reminded him of the legendary MS Dhoni, who also used to take the game deep and finish matches for India National Cricket Team.

"It seems the guy who is confident and being the man who can take his team through, just like we had a legend in the past in the name of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who had the same confidence. So, when you have a player like him, batting at No.3, he might be taking on that role, which is not such a bad thing," Sanjay Manjrekar said.

Meanwhile, the former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali lauded Tilak Varma for his heroics with a cheeky remark. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali said that Varma has started performing exceptionally well since he started keeping long hair.

"Tilak Varma [is] too good since he's started keeping long hair. I am joking [chuckles]," the former Pakistan National Cricket Team cricketer said.