Virat Kohli’s record for the most runs in T20Is without being dismissed was surpassed by Tilak Varma, a left-hander for India, who made history. During India’s close two-wicket victory against England in the second Twenty20 International on January 25 at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, the young player accomplished this.
With five sixes and four boundaries in an undefeated 72 off 55 balls, Tilak held the Men in Blue’s innings as they chased a goal of 166. He broke the previous record of 271 runs held by Mark Chapman of New Zealand with this knock, bringing his T20I total to 318 runs in four innings without being dismissed. David Warner (239), Aaron Finch (240), and Shreyas Iyer (240) are next on the all-time list after Chapman.
The 22-year-old also broke Kohli’s record for how many runs an Indian hitter has scored in four straight T20I innings. The 36-year-old’s 258 had served as the standard, and Sanju Samson (257), Rohit Sharma (253), and Shikhar Dhawan (252) had all done well after that.
Even the match itself was tense. Brydon Carse’s late flourish (31 off 17 balls) and Jos Buttler’s 45 helped England, who were batting first, reach a total of 165/9. For India, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy each claimed two wickets.
Tilak Varma hit four soaring sixes off of Jofra Archer.
But the chase was anything but easy for the host. Even though Abhishek Sharma had a great start, the middle order crumbled under the pressure of England’s bowlers. Bowling occurred at regular intervals, with Samson and Suryakumar Yadav being removed early.
But Tilak profited on missed deliveries and rotated the strike. Notably, in his allotted four overs, he hit Jofra Archer for four sixes. Archer’s performance was forgettable as he let up 60 runs.
Together, Washington Sundar and Tilak contributed 38 runs for the sixth wicket. India needed six runs in the last over to win. India now leads the series 2-0 as Tilak’s boundary off the second ball ended the match.