Tilak doesn't play the bowler, he plays the ball: Rohit Sharma

Tilak Verma has been a real revelation for Mumbai Indians in the last couple of years, scoring 611 runs at an average of 40.73 and a strike rate of 139.5 in 19 matches. No batter in the Mumbai Indians line-up has scored more than him and that speaks volumes about his growth as a T20 batter, someone who has taken over the mantle of the most dependable batter in the side from Suryakumar Yadav.

On Tuesday, the Hyderabad-born batter again showed his incredible range, scoring a quick-fire 17-ball 37 that pushed Mumbai to a total of 192 runs. Skipper Rohit Sharma was all praise for the middle-order batter and singled out his ability to play according to the merit of the balls as his biggest strength.

“We watched Tilak last season. We all know what he can do. I love his approach. He doesn't play the bowler, he plays the ball. We will see him play for a lot of teams,” Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation.

Rohit has also batted with a lot of freedom lately, and that helped Mumbai Indians come back into their own. With Rohit charging from the outset, Ishan Kishan decided to go slow then, ensuring the middle-order didn’t have to play the anchor role.

“We have got a couple of guys who haven't played IPL before. It is important to back them. And they are coming into their own. I am enjoying my batting. I am liking what I do. Of course I would take the next step, but it is a different role. We have been talking about setting the tempo early. One of us needs to bat deep, but as long as we are getting big scores, we are happy. We have a deep batting line-up, and we need to make sure they bat freely,” Rohit added.