India A lifting the tri-nation trophy after beating Sri Lanka A by 66 runs in Dambulla on Sunday was a total team effort.
But looking back, Tilak Varma will take a lot of satisfaction the way he led the team from the front.
Throughout the campaign, Tilak quietly put together the most consistent performance of any batter in the tournament, balancing the weight of captaincy effortlessly.
He was one of only two batters to cross the 200-run mark, hitting four half-centuries in five innings: 60 against Sri Lanka A, 66 and 59 in back-to-back games against Afghanistan A, and a crucial 67 in the final.
His only miss in the tournament was a 23 against Sri Lanka early on.
But he didn’t obviously shoulder the batting alone. Alongside Tilak, vice-captain Ruturaj Gaikwad had a good tournament at the top of the order. He consistently anchored the innings, hitting a 101 in the opening game and a 40 in the final, which kept the pressure firmly on Sri Lanka A.
Today, Priyansh Arya scored of 39 off 29 balls before Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stole the show with a breathtaking 94 off just 29 deliveries.
Tempers flared during a Super Over-loss to Sri Lanka A earlier in the tournament. That was a challenge for Tilak as a new captain.
Leaving out a regular like Prabhsimran Singh for Priyansh Arya and handing Kumar Kushagra the gloves was a bold move. In a tournament like this, such tough selection calls are never easy.
Speaking after the final, Tilak shed light on the tactical blueprint behind the win. “It’s just a matter of a moment and planning just before coming to the game,” he told the host broadcaster. “If you see the way we play the powerplay, and in between 10 to 40 (overs), and again we’ll just accelerate, and again we go on. Because we know we have got good big hitters at the death.”
Tilak has mentioned before how much he has learned from Rohit Sharma about reading match situations and managing a squad.
With a T20I vice-captaincy role coming up next, bigger responsibility beckons.
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