Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Tilak Varma gave his batting gloves to two budding cricketers in a heartwarming gesture after the side's nine-run win over the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 18.
Varma scored a crucial 34* off 18 in MI's dominant batting display that saw them post a massive 192/7 in 20 overs. With two boundaries and as many maximums, the 21-year-old batter gave the innings the impetus after PBKS had made their way back into the game.
While defending the total, MI bowlers started on fire, reducing the home side to 14/4 in 2 overs. However, an incredible resurrection saw PBKS almost pull off a miraculous win before being bowled out for 183.
After the game, Tilak threw his batting gloves to two girls while walking back to the dressing room, much to their delight.
The video shared by the Mumbai Indians Twitter handle was captioned as:
"Scored 34* (18), took an important catch and this… Gave two budding cricketers a reason to believe in their dreams."
Jasprit Bumrah was the Player of the Match for another sensational spell of bowling. The ace pacer finished with figures of 3/21 in four overs, including two wickets in his first over.
As for PBKS, they found their heroes once again in Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma. While the former started the recovery with a 25-ball 41, the latter did one better by scoring 61 off 28 deliveries.
Tilak Varma has been in sparkling form in IPL 2024
Tilak Varma has been in impressive batting form thus far this season, scoring 208 runs at an average of 41.60 and a strike rate of over 160 in seven games.
The 21-year-old has had only a limited number of deliveries to bat with the MI top three in stupendous form, resulting in the lone half-century. Yet, his cameos have helped MI up the ante in the middle overs.
Despite Tilak's showing, MI has struggled overall as a unit, winning only three out of their seven games this season. Nevertheless, the side is in comeback mode, winning three of their last four outings to climb to seventh on the points table.
Tilak will be next seen in action when MI takes on table-toppers RR at Jaipur on Monday, April 24.
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