GT vs MI: Tilak Varma smashes 45-ball century, flaunts new celebration in Ahmedabad
The Mumbai Indians experienced a vital resurgence after middle-order batter Tilak Varma returned to form, smashing his maiden Indian Premier League century off just 45 balls against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday, April 20.
This performance marked Varma’s first fifty-plus score in his last 15 T20 innings, while levelling the record for the joint-fastest century by a Mumbai Indians batter, matching the legendary Sanath Jayasuriya. And he celebrated it like that, removing his helmet and placing it beside his bat before pointing one finger skywards and the other to his forehead, then folding his hands as he looked up. Brimming with emotion, he soaked in the moment as Hardik Pandya led jubilant celebrations, jumping and clapping alongside an energized Mumbai Indians side.
Despite a sluggish start where he scored at less than a run-a-ball, Varma ignited a spectacular late-innings acceleration, dispatching Prasidh Krishna and Ashok Sharma to all parts of the ground.
In a display of pure carnage, Tilak propelled the team to 99 runs in the final six overs, even as partners Hardik Pandya and Sherfane Rutherford struggled to score at a run-a-ball. His 45-ball masterclass allowed MI to set a formidable target of 200, with Varma incredibly plundering 82 runs off his final 23 deliveries.
“Just glad all the hard work paid off. Good knock from Tilak. It’s very doable, we can chase it down,” Rabada said after the innings. Mumbai Indians have won 18 of the 19 matches they played while defending a 200-plus target.
Mumbai Indians, currently struggling at the bottom of the league table in 10th place with four losses in their first five matches, have experienced a noticeable dip in form among their most seasoned batters.
The team had already been struggling significantly with the bat, missing star opener Rohit Sharma due to a hamstring injury, when Rabada dismantled their top order. The Hyderabad-born southpaw, a recent ICC T20 World Cup winner, arrived at the crease during the powerplay itself, a critical juncture for MI after Kagiso Rabada took away debutant Danish Malewar, Quinton de Kock, and Suryakumar Yadav in his first three overs.
Prior to this knock, Varma had been under intense scrutiny for his poor form, averaging a mere 8.6 with only 43 runs on the season. This milestone also represents only the fourth time in IPL history that a batter coming in at number five or lower has scored a century.
Tilak’s innings also set a unique IPL record: he became the first player to score over 70 runs in an innings without hitting a single boundary in his first 20 balls.
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