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In the first T20I, India were chasing 209, and needed 75 in 7.3 overs when Tilak walked out. He hit Tanveer Sangha for back-to-back fours but fell for 12 off 10 balls as he tried to attack the legspinner once again.
“I wanted to take charge against their legspinner because we needed ten per over,” Tilak said. “So my mindset was clear: if the legspinner is bowling, I will go for it. Against the fast bowlers, Surya bhai [Suryakumar Yadav] will do the same. So in that over, I wanted to attack the legspinner.”
Suryakumar’s 80 off 42 balls, though, took India closer before Rinku Singh finished it off with an unbeaten 22 off 14 balls. Tilak, too, wants to finish games, just like Rinku has been doing.
“I like finishing the games,” he said. “I am learning [that] from Rinku as he has been doing it very consistently, even for the Indian team. I think in the coming matches I will be doing that.”
Tilak is looking to “continue the same form” into this series as well. Moreover, he has “good memories” of Thiruvananthapuram. In 2019, he was part of the 50-over Under-19 quadrangular series involving South Africa Afghanistan, India A and India B that was played there.
In that series, he scored 115 runs in three games with a best of 44 not out. Two of those matches were played at the Thumba ground, and the third at the Greenfield International Stadium, the venue for the second T20I on Sunday.
“It was a good, seaming wicket at that time,” he recalled. “But usually the Kerala wicket is on the slower side and turns a bit. I don’t know how it is now. We will have a look today and go with the flow.”
Last week, India lost to Australia in the final of the ODI World Cup after staying unbeaten in the tournament until that match. But Tilak is not looking at the current assignment as a revenge series.
“On one bad day we lost, otherwise we had a superb, fantastic World Cup,” he said. “I am not looking to beat Australia for that. We just want to go one game at a time and follow the basics.”
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