Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma took inspiration from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and concluded the innings with the iconic helicopter shot during his team’s first game of IPL 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday night.
On a day when other batters looked quite pale in front of RCB’s lethal bowling show, Varma, a rising star, showed nerves of steel, powering his team to a fighting total of 171 runs in spectacular fashion.
IPL 2023 Full Coverage | IPL 2023 Schedule | IPL 2023 Results | IPL Orange Cap | IPL Purple Cap
In the final ball of their innings, the Southpaw sent the Bengaluru crowd in frenzy by smashing a monstrous six over the long-on region, which certainly reminded the Indian fans of Dhoni.
Tribute to Thala @msdhoni Helicopter shot.. What an inning by Tilak Varma.. Take a bow @TilakV9 , next big thing in #IndianCricket #IPL2023 #MIvsRCB #RCBvsMI pic.twitter.com/cwYmMFedaL— Prem Baranwal (@prembaranwal) April 2, 2023
A helicopter shot by Tilak Verma on the final ball.What an innings, take a bow, Tilak! pic.twitter.com/MylXMmErSd
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 2, 2023
MI, following Varma’s last-ball helicopter shot, dropped a metaphorical post on their official Twitter page, uploading a GIF of a helicopter.
Several fans also shared a clip of the eye-catching shot on the microblogging platform, bringing out the reference to the legendary Dhoni.
Interestingly, the event transpired on a day (April 2) when 12 years ago India won their second World Cup with Dhoni hitting the winning six at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
A fan hardly took any time to label Varma’s last-ball hit as “a tribute to Thala’s helicopter shot on 2nd April 2011, WC final."
Tribute to Thala's helicopter shot on 2nd April 2011, WC final— Kisslay Jha???????? (@KisslayJha) April 2, 2023
Varma’s helicopter shot brought goosebumps to a fan, who wrote, “Literally seen after so many years. That reminds me of MSD."
Total Goosebumps after that Helicopter shot. ???? Literally seen after so many years. That reminds me of MSD.— Raghu nath (@Raghuna29298422) April 2, 2023
An RCB fan also showered praise on the Mumbai MI batter, saying, “Being an RCB fan I have to say Tilak Verma has maturely handled the innings. Superb Job from Tilak."
Being a Rcb fan i have to say tilak verma has maturely handled the innings. Superb Job from Tilak ????— Yash Jain ???????? (@YashJain0703) April 2, 2023
A user described Varma as “a superstar in making."
Superstar in making ????— DEEP???? (@ideepsing) April 2, 2023
It was unquestionably a day to remember for Varma.
After some prominent faces like Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav surrendered early, the youngster came out of his shell and steered the inning single-handedly. He remained unbeaten 84, which came in just 46 balls.
The knock was decorated with 9 boundaries and 4 maximums.
Coming in to defend the target, Mumbai bowlers looked helpless in front of RCB’s opening pair of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. The duo went all guns blazing, giving their opponents no time to recover.
Du Plessis headed to the pavilion after scoring a 43-ball 73 but Kohli remained unbeaten till the end. After the captain’s dismissal, the Indian batter joined hands with Glenn Maxwell and sailed RCB across the victory line in 16.2 overs.
Kohli remained unbeaten at 82 off 49 balls, while Maxwell played a blistering cameo of 12 runs, which included two sixes.
Get the latest Cricket News here
Comments
0 comment