WI vs IND: Tilak Varma dedicates unique half-century celebration to Rohit Sharma's daughter Samaira

The ordeals for the Men in Blue continued in the second T20I of the series as they failed to stand strong against the home side, losing the fixture by two wickets. In pursuit of testing the bench and going with rather a second-string unit yet again, India couldn’t solidify their chances to get hold of the series. However, if there was one bright spot in the touring party’s batting set-up, it was definitely the newly-introduced Tilak Varma who carried rhythm from his debut game.

When the other players failed to touch even 30s, Varma displayed grit with his 51 off 41 to push India to breach the 150-run mark. After the youngster brought up his half-century, he pulled out a special celebration, which was dedicated to Rohit Sharma’s little one Samaira (Sammy). After the match, Varma threw light on his special affiliation with Samaira and added how he had promised of dedicating his maiden fifty or ton to her.

“It was towards Sammy (Samaira), Rohit bhai’s daughter," Varma told reporters after the match. I am very close to Sammy. I had promised her that whenever I will score a century or a fifty, I will do a celebration for her,” Varma told reporters after India ended on the losing side.

𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 🔁 😍

Tilak's solid Maiden International FIFTY 👏#OneFamily #WIvIND @TilakV9 pic.twitter.com/D1qBZhJJyl

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) August 6, 2023

A special fifty 👍

A special celebration for someone special from the Rohit Sharma family ☺️#TeamIndia | #WIvIND | @ImRo45 | @TilakV9 pic.twitter.com/G7knVbziNI

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 6, 2023

However, the 20-year-old’s efforts went in vain as the visitors failed to defend 152 runs in the second fixture of the series and now remain 0-2 down in the five-match contest. Talking of West Indies’ batting show, Nicholas Pooran turned absolutely lethal with his 67 off 40 and didn’t leave any room for the visitors to breathe.

Skipper Hardik Pandya ruled the bowling chart with his three wickets, while Yuzvendra Chahal chipped in with two without bowling his full quota of overs. With the series on line, it remains questionable if India would bring back their full-strength squad in the third T20I or stick with their ongoing template of changing and chopping.