India Eyes Tilak Varma as Middle-Order Backup for World Cup
New Delhi: A year out from the ODI World Cup, India’s white-ball think-tank has quietly moved into contingency mode. The message from inside the dressing room is blunt: there is no ready-made backup for the middle order, and that gap needs closing fast.
Tilak Varma, still early in his international journey, has suddenly moved to the front of that conversation.
Team management and selectors have discussed the left-hander as a potential understudy to Shreyas Iyer in the top six, with his profile ticking several boxes that have worried Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill. A left-handed option to break the right-hand heavy lineup. A batter who can be groomed to bowl a few overs. A younger, fitter presence in a core that is ageing together.
The push is not just about runs. It is about overs.
India’s brains trust has flagged the lack of bowling options in the top order as a recurring problem, one that piles pressure on the lower order and frontline attack in 50-over cricket. Tilak has been specifically asked to sharpen his off-spin, with the belief that his part-time bowling can be developed into a genuine four-over option in ODIs.
That is now a key selection filter.
“Head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill feel there isn’t any backup ready for the middle order. With Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy being prone to injuries, they want someone in the top order who can at least chip in with four overs in an ODI,” a BCCI source said.
Planning on hold, but questions piling up
The detailed World Cup build-up will not truly begin until India land in New Zealand in October. The ODI series at home against West Indies from September 27 will be played without most first-choice names, while a full-strength T20 side is headed to Japan for the Asian Games at the same time.
So the calendar is busy. The planning, less so.
Even in that churn, the concerns are clear. Shreyas Iyer, central to India’s ODI plans, is coming off an injury in Australia, and his game against pace and bounce has not been tested recently in demanding conditions. The next World Cup is in South Africa. That matters.
The core around him is not getting younger either. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are already into the veteran phase of their careers and are managing niggles. KL Rahul will be past 35 by the time the tournament begins. Ravindra Jadeja’s place is no longer an automatic tick either, with his fitness and form under constant review.
The cumulative effect has been visible in the field. India’s athleticism has dipped, and the management has not been shy in linking that directly to fitness issues and age.
“The team already has two ageing players in Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. They are having niggles as well. KL Rahul too will be over 35 by the time the World Cup comes around. Ravindra Jadeja isn’t a certainty either. The fielding of the team has suffered due to fitness issues. The team management feels that they need younger backups ready,” the source said.
That is where someone like Tilak fits the long-term blueprint, even if he is not yet a locked-in starter.
Balance headaches and out-of-position gambles
Over the last year, the search for balance has forced India into awkward compromises. Washington Sundar or Axar Patel have often been pushed up to No. 5 or No. 6, not because that is their natural role, but to keep the side’s bowling intact.
The ripple effects have been obvious. In the last ODI series in England, Ishan Kishan was sent in ahead of vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, a move that underlined just how experimental the batting order has become at times.
Selectors, though, are wary of turning that into a habit.
They have made it known they do not want to make a practice of shunting batters out of their best positions. The example of Ruturaj Gaikwad is still fresh. Picked as a backup opener when Gill was injured, he was asked to bat at No. 4 against South Africa in Raipur — and responded with a hundred. Yet he has not been part of the ODI squad since.
“Gaikwad was picked as backup opener since Gill was injured. The team management feels Tilak could have been tried in that place. That’s why they don’t want to rush Devdutt Padikkal in the ODI setup because he found his calling in white-ball cricket while opening the batting,” the source said.
The message is pointed: if a player has built his game as an opener, he will not be dragged into the middle order just to plug a gap. That space, the management believes, should be groomed with specialists like Tilak who can grow into the role and add overs with the ball.
West Indies anomaly, Afghanistan next
The upcoming ODI series against West Indies will not be a template for anything. It will be an exception born out of unavailability.
Iyer, Tilak, Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel will all miss the series, leaving selectors to patch together a side that answers more short-term needs than long-term questions. The focus for that tour has already shifted towards securing another wicketkeeper rather than reshaping the middle order.
The more revealing selection meeting will come earlier.
By September 3, the committee is expected to name the squad for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in Delhi, starting September 13. Sources indicate that the selectors are inclined to stick largely with the group chosen for the Asian Games, maintaining continuity in the T20 setup.
Key fitness updates will shape that call. Official reports on Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Jasprit Bumrah are still awaited. Varun Chakravarthy, though, has regained full fitness and is back in the frame.
The bigger picture remains the ODI World Cup in South Africa. India know their senior pillars will not last forever. The question now is whether Tilak Varma and his generation can grow quickly enough to carry that weight when the stage lights come on.
