&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Tilak Varma is back! Star T20I batter proves fitness as India-A beat USA in T20 WC warm-up")
Tilak Varma is back and back with a bang. Team India’s T20I batting mainstay returned to competitive cricket for the first time since the first week of January, when he underwent testicular surgery, keeping him out of the recently concluded New Zealand T20Is. Picked in India-A squad for the scheduled warm-up matches against the USA and Namibia, one of which took place in Navi Mumbai on Monday (Feb 2), Varma scored a gritty 24-ball 38 in the first innings and returned with one wicket in two overs, helping his team beat America by 38 runs.
Batting first, India-A got off to a flyer, with keeper-batter Narayan Jagadeesan and Priyansh Arya adding 43 for the first wicket inside four overs. Varma joined Tamil Nadu gloveman in the middle, stitching 113 runs for the second wicket.
Also read | T20 World Cup 2026 | No place for Kuldeep: India skipper Suryakumar all but confirms bowling line-up
While the right-handed Jagadeesan was the architect in this partnership, closing in on his T20 hundred, which he completed soon after (104 off 55 balls), Varma impressed during his brief stay, hitting two sixes and three fours.
Captain Ayush Badoni walked in next (following Tilak’s dismissal) and, with Jagadeesan, slammed 73 runs in just 29 balls, out of which he scored an unbeaten 60 off just 26 deliveries, whacking four maximums and six fours.
India-A scored 238 for three in 20 overs.
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USA’s run chase
The USA's opening stand added 32 for the first wicket before another quick scalp put them on the backfoot. Andries Gous, Milind Kumar and Sanjay Krishnamurthi added crucial runs, with the USA steering closer to the target.
Handy contributions from the lower order also kept them alive in the chase, but regular fall of wickets, including one from Tilak Varma, accounted for their loss.
The USA, however, showed leaps of improvement, heart and grit during this run chase, clearing its indications of exceeding at the forthcoming T20 World Cup.
Meanwhile, the USA is placed in Group A alongside the co-host India, Pakistan, Namibia and the Netherlands. India and the USA will face off in one of the three matches on February 7 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
