'There's Confidence And Fearlessness': Hardik Pandya Awestruck By Tilak Varma's T20I Debut

Team India T20I captain Hardik Pandya heaped praise on Tilak Varma after the latter's sensational start to his international career, stating there could not be a better way. The Baroda-born cricketer has earmarked the left-handed batter to do wonders for India in the future.

Tilak Varma, who has been consistently plundering runs in the last two IPL seasons, earned his first international cap on Thursday. The southpaw walked out to bat at No.4 in the 1st T20I against the West Indies and slammed two sixes off his first two deliveries. He smacked one more in his 22-ball 39 before falling to Romario Shepherd. Although the youngster top-scored, India fell short by 4 runs in pursuit of 149.

Speaking at a post-match press conference, Hardik said:

"Very pleasing to see the way he started his innings. Not a bad way to start your international cricket with a couple of sixes. There's confidence and fearlessness they have. They are going to do wonders for India."

Hardik Pandya laments losing wickets behind India's close defeat in first T20I:

Pandya further stated that the Men in Blue were in control of the game almost throughout, which he feels is massive. However, the 29-year-old reckons that losing a couple of quick wickets swung the momentum towards the hosts.

"We were right in the chase and quite comfortable there. We made some errors which cost us the game which is fine. A young team will make mistakes. We will grow together. Throughout the game, we were in control of the game, which was positive in this game. In T20 cricket, if you lose wickets, it becomes difficult to chase any total, that's exactly what happened. A couple of hits can change the momentum towards you. When we lost a couple of wickets, that halted our chase."

The two sides will meet in the 2nd T20I on August 6th at Providence.