After scoring a hundred on County Championship debut, Tilak Varma grinded his way to 56 in his second game, against Worcestershire.
Tilak’s ability to hit early in the innings in T20 cricket – he is the first Indian man to hit a T20 150 – had helped him cement a place in the Indian T20I side. His first-class strike rate, in excess of 55 (to go with a 50-plus batting average), indicates that he scores both quickly and heavily.
On County Championship debut, however, he dug deep to make a 241-ball 100 for Hampshire against Essex at Chelmsford.
His second game was a home match, against Worcestershire at Southampton. For the tourists, Adam Hose smashed a personal-history-defying 266 in 253 balls, while captain Jack Libby remained unbeaten on 228 after winning the toss and opting to bat. With wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick also hitting 80, Libby declared on 679-7 on the second day. Tilak bowled nine wicketless overs for 31 runs.
By stumps, the hosts were 68-3 with Tilak unbeaten on 10 and Ben Brown on seven. On the third day, he was the sixth batter to be dismissed, but not before facing 171 balls to carve out a 213-minute 71. He hit seven fours and a six as he reached fifty for the 11th time in first-class cricket: six of these have been hundreds.
Hampshire folded soon after that, for 221, as Tom Taylor returned 4-42. Libby enforced the follow-on.
Following on, Hampshire began almost exactly as they had in the first innings, and finished the day on 86-3 with Tilak (20) and Brown (3) at the crease. They need another 372 to make Worcestershire bat again or, more realistically, bat out the entire day to save the game.
