‘Watch it through a mirror, you will feel it is MS Dhoni’ – Mohammad Kaif applauds Tilak Verma for a splendid knock against Bangalore

The Mumbai franchise have lost their first match of the Indian T20 League against Bangalore by 8 wickets. Batting first at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium, Mumbai didn’t make a great start as they lost wickets at regular intervals. However, after that, Tilak Verma took the charge of Mumbai batting lineup. The 20-year-old smashed 84 runs off 46 balls as Mumbai posted a total of 171 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.

Tilak impressed everyone by hitting a helicopter shot on the last ball of the innings which went for a huge six. However, his innings went in vain as Bangalore chased the winning total by losing 2 wickets in the 17th over, powered by the knocks from the skipper Faf du Plessis (73 off 43) and Virat Kohli (82 off 49).

Despite the loss, many former cricketers were impressed with the splendid knock by Tilak when other batters were struggling to score runs. Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif also heaped praise on the youngster for his helicopter shot and said it will look like MS Dhoni is playing the shot if being watched it through a mirror.

‘Mumbai were struggling and were losing matches continuously but his bat kept on firing’ – Kaif

“Leg side is his strong suit. He uses his bottom hand but he makes room as well, hits sixes straight down the ground and plays the scoop shot. So it is not that he can only score on the leg side. The helicopter shot – if you watch it through a mirror, you will feel it is MS Dhoni because you will see him as a right-hander there,” said Kaif during the post-match discussion on Star Sports.

“The most difficult time was last year. Mumbai were struggling and were losing matches continuously but his bat kept on firing. So he showed that he has courage. He played for the first time for the Mumbai Franchise and scored regularly and he continued that form here,” he further added.

Tilak Verma also had a decent season in 2022, where he amassed 397 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.09 and a strike rate of 131.02.