'Future of Indian cricket' - Twitter overjoyed as Tilak Varma makes India debut

India are locking horns with West Indies in the first T20I of the five-match series on Thursday, August 03 at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad. West Indies captain Rovman Powell has won the toss and elected to bat first. The Men in Blue have handed debut caps to seamer Mukesh Kumar and Tilak Varma for the first game.

Varma will be making his first-ever appearance in international cricket on the back of stupendous performances in the Indian Premier League. The Hyderabad-born batter rose to the limelight in his debut season in IPL in 2022 where he amassed 397 runs in 14 innings and finished as the second-highest run scorer for Mumbai Indians.

He further scored another 343 runs in the recent season in 2023 from 11 innings at an average of 42.87 with one fifty. Varma is known for his hard-hitting ability and his ability to attack spinners. The 20-year-old will look to the most of his opportunity and get his international career off to a rollicking start.

On the other hand, Mukesh Kumar will also be making his T20I debut, having already made his ODI and Test debuts earlier on the tour. Notably, the 29-year-old has become the second player to make his debut across all three formats on the same tour. T. Natarajan was the last player to achieve the feat during India’s historic tour to Australia in 2020-21.

India become second team to play 200 T20Is

Meanwhile, the first T20I will also mark India’s 200^th appearance in the shortest format of international cricket. The Men in Blue played their first ever T20I way back in 2006 against South Africa in Johannesburg captained by Virender Sehwag.

India have become the second team to play 200 T20Is and are also the second most successful team (127 wins) in the format (in terms of matches won) behind Pakistan who have won 134 matches out of 223 played. The Hardik Pandya-led side will look to mark the momentous occasion with a victory in the first game.

Meanwhile, Twitter was abuzz with reactions on Tilak Varma making his international debut.

Here are some of the Tweets: