'Have admired Dhoni and Jadeja a lot' - MI's new recruit Tilak Varma expresses desire to play against CSK to gain 'confidence'

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians newly recruit Tilak Varma wants to play against his team’s arch rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the upcoming 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The 19-year old middle-order batsman has said that the match against CSK will give him loads of confidence.

Varma came to light after he scored a swashbuckling 110 off 119 balls against Pakistan in the U-19 Asia Cup played in September 2019. Thanks to his knock, India comfortably beat Pakistan by 60 runs. Recognizing his talent, MI bagged the left-handed batsman at a cost of INR 1.7 crore from his base price of INR 20 lakh.

I had a dream of playing for MI since childhood: Tilak Varma

“I have watched Sachin [Tendulkar] sir and Rohit [Sharma] bhai a lot while I was growing up and it has been a dream of mine since childhood to play for MI one day. I feel like it is going to be a great experience. I’m eager to get started as soon as possible. MI also has this unique spirit of bouncing back from tough situations,” Varma was quoted by Mumbai Indians’ official website.

“Whenever it felt like they would lose a game, the team always found a way to win. I then felt that there was something different about this team and it always motivated me. It always felt like a family and the fans just make it all the better.

“I think that would be CSK. I have admired MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja for a long time. So doing well and winning a match for MI against them will give me great confidence,” he added.

Mumbai Indians squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Jofra Archer, Daniel Sams, Tymal Mills, Tim David, Riley Meredith, Mohd Arshad Khan, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Aryan Juyal, Fabian Allen.