Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan criticized the Gujarat Titans batsmen for their poor performance against the Mumbai Indians at their Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Mumbai Indians’ hard work finally paid off and they won their second game of the season after left-handed batsman Tilak Varma fired up a promising performance. He scored his first century in the IPL, equaling Mumbai Indians’ fastest ever in just 45 balls.

Irfan Pathan, the former Indian pacer, claimed that the Gujarat Titans batsmen performed so badly in the match that they lost only to Tilak Varma, forget about the entire team.

“Gujarat titans lost to Tilak Varma” – Irfan Pathan

Irfan’s comments came after Tilak scored 101* runs with the bat and in return, the Gujarat Titans were dismissed for just 100 runs in their batting innings. Pathan mocked the Titans batting order for failing to surpass Tilak’s individual score.

“Gujarat lost to Tilak Varma, which means they couldn’t even score that many runs. Tilak Varma made 101 and they made 100. Gujarat’s batting performance was that poor in this match,” Pathan said.

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Irfan Pathan suggests best approach for Tilak Varma after GT clash

After the match against the Gujarat Titans, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan suggested that Tilak Varma should ideally use this approach, where he can start slow against the spinners and then dominate the fast bowlers at the death.

“This is the model you should follow: If you are facing spin in the first part of your innings, you should concentrate on singles and doubles and avoid hitting big shots because this batsman is a brilliant fast bowler. Prasidh Krishna is one of Gujarat’s best bowlers and their biggest wicket-taker, and he focused on him, scoring over 40 runs off 16 balls.

Pathan also pointed out how Tilak played most of his big shots after the second timeout, despite coming out to bat after falling wickets in the powerplay.

“After the time-out, he played the first shot up, then played the return shot, then over covers, and even handled slower balls very well while maintaining his shape. He has a wide range of shots, including shots through mid-wicket, fine leg and square on the off side,” he added.

Irfan Pathan praises Tilak Varma’s adaptive brilliance in the middle order

Irfan Pathan did not back down and went on to say that Tilak has played various roles in the middle order and has never let down Mumbai Indians.

“He bats at number 3, 4, 5 and 6. Wherever he is asked to bat, he adapts. Now, when he got a chance to bat, the bowling in the powerplay was quite dangerous, so he had to come a little early, but he did not disappoint the Mumbai camp at all. Once again, he showed his versatility in batting,” they said.

“He is also a leader. When a young player like this bats in different positions at the beginning of his career but remains flexible and continues to perform, it shows his quality. He finds solutions,” he added.

He went on to say, “No player is perfect, every player has some weakness or area that opponents try to exploit. He can also be targeted by spinners, but he never hesitates to bat in the middle order. He is always ready to do it for the team and keeps finding ways to improve, even though he prefers to bat at number 3. That’s why it’s so nice to see when a player like this scores runs.”

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