Tilak Varma in India squad for Asia Cup is brave, smart decision: Tom Moody

With India announcing their squad for the Asia Cup, former Australia cricketer Tom Moody said the decision to take Tilak Varma in the side is a brave and smart call

New Delhi: With India announcing their squad for the Asia Cup, former Australia cricketer Tom Moody said the decision to take Tilak Varma in the side is a brave and smart call.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday named a strong 17-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 which will begin on August 30 with Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul returning to the squad and Tilak Verma also got a place in the team. Speaking on Star Sports, Moody spoke about the talent and variety that Tilak Varma gets to the squad.

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I think it’s a wonderful selection. I’ll call it brave, but I also call it in the same breath smart. He is clearly a player on the rise, as I touched on earlier. He’s got not only skill but an enormous temperament, and he is showing that on a regular basis. We have talked about the value of left-handedness in the top order, so him coming in at that number five or six position is going to be valuable for India, particularly to have that balance against spin.

Tilak had a huge impact in the recent T20I series against West Indies. Tilak is being considered for a spot in India’s World Cup squad with his performance in first T20I series in which he scored 173 runs in five matches with a strike rate of over 140.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar seconded the decision to have Tilak Varma in the squad.

“Yes, because he is in hot form. Look at his domestic career, he’s got the numbers to merit a call for India so he is getting ready for 50-over cricket. It is hard to find a weakness in him, in white ball cricket. And as I’ve mentioned before, let’s have some impact, quality players at number four, five, and six. There’s a tremendous rush for spots number one, two, and three, in Indian cricket, let’s have these number four, five, six batters out there.”