India batter Tilak Varma has once again come under scrutiny for his sluggish knocks in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. In the four group-stage games that Tilak played, he managed scores of 25 off 16 vs United States of America, 25 off 21 vs Namibia, 25 off 24 vs Pakistan, and 31 off 27 vs Netherlands.
Tilak’s issue with strike rate has been a concern for sometime now, In the Asia Cup 2025 too, while Tilak managed to score over 213 runs from seven matches, his strike rate barely crossed 130. His inability to change gears has now raised questions, with India now preparing for the high-octane Super 8 stage of the ICC event.
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Echoing on the same lines, former India and RCB batting coach Sanjay Bangar opened up on how Tilak’s side-on batting stance hinders with his power-hitting. Tilak visibly struggles with lines of middle and leg and even wide outside off deliveries.
Bangar went onto reveal that this was one of the reasons for RCB to ignore Tilak Varma during the IPL 2022 auction when they were on the lookout for left-handers and spent INR 3.4 crores to sign Anuj Rawat instead. Tilak, on the other hand, was picked up by the Mumbai Indians (MI) for INR 1.7 crores.
When quizzed regarding Tilak’s stance, Sanjay Bangar said to ESPNCricinfo,
“It takes my mind back to the talent scouting and generally because before we go onto a a big auction and at that point in time I was with RCB and we were going through the footage of plenty of left-handers. We were looking at Anuj Rawat, we were looking at Sai Sudharsan, we were looking at Tilak and at that point I felt that he is far too side-on.”
However, Bangar said that Tilak has improved, “He’s gotten better to handling that – against express pace, he is getting inside the line and just. playing it over square leg, over fine leg. So he’s improved that part of the game but there is merit in that particular suggestion that this is a game, T20 is a game wherein it’s always better, desirable to have a slightly open stance which gives you the fundamental to even flat bat straight down the ground.”
Tilak will hope to fix his issues soon with the Men in Blue set to begin their Super 8 stage in a rematch of the previous edition’s final against South Africa on Sunday (February 22).
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