While the apparent view might be that India are still experimenting amid the concern over the return of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had recently revealed that head coach Rahul Dravid has the team chalked out for the World Cup.

And although it might be a little too late and down to recency bias, veteran India bowler Ravinchandran Ashwin has a “stupendous” suggestion for chief selector Ajit Agarkar and the team management which could probably solve India’s middle-order woes.

If you go back to the remarks made by experts and India legends on the current team and their prospects in the impending 2023 World Cup, you could spot a commonality. Amid their respective predictions on India’s fortune, almost everyone highlighted the dearth of left-handed option in the batting line-up with Jadeja being the only certainty and Ishan Kishan as a back-up option.

Had Rishabh Pant been there, India would have had two options. But Ashwin, speaking on his YouTube video, opined that India could have another contender in Tilak Varma, who only made his debut last week and smashed a 25-ball 39 in the 1st T20I against West Indies before scoring his maiden international fifty. Besides the player being India’s top-scorer in both the games in an otherwise horror show, he was also among the few batters in the match to have read the sluggish West Indies conditions well.

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Ashwin was left thoroughly impressed with Tilak, comparing him with India skipper Rohit Sharma for his ability to execute the pull shot at his will.

“The emergence of Tilak Varma has made everyone take notice of him. He looked in imperious touch even on that slow pitch in 1st T20I. His batting style is very unlike for an Indian making his his international debut. His game resembles a lot like Rohit Sharma. He sweats on the pull shot. Generally, India batters won’t set up to play the pull shot. It is something they develop later. But his game looks like he has a natural pull shot and sends the ball outside the rope like an Aussie batter. Too early to call, but that knock was stupendous,” he said.

‘Will they see Tilak Varma as an option?’

Ashwin realised that India have only the T20I format to test Tilak’s ability with the 20-year-old likely to play the remaining three games and appear in the three-match series in Ireland before proceedings shift towards Asia Cup, but feels that selectors might just want to keep him as an option given his left-handed ability. He however did admit that Sanju Samson, by all means, should be given the first-choice preference as middle-order batter based on his performance in ODI cricket.

“This is neck-and-neck with respect to the World Cup. So, will they think about Tilak Varma as an option if we don’t have enough backups? Because Sanju Samson has performed really well in ODIs. But the exciting part about Tilak Varma is that he is a left-hander and Team India is lacking left-handers. Jaddu is the only left-handed batter in the top 7. And look at the off-spinners from all the top teams. Australia have Ashton Agar. England have Moeen Ali and a leggie in Adil Rashid. So most teams don’t have a finger spinner to challenge the left-handed batters. That is why the emergence of Tilak is crucial. It is still early but will they see him as an option? He has at least made everyone notice him. He is surely in the contingency plan. Because any selector who would have seen that knock would have gone, ‘Woah!’” he added.