Tilak can challenge for India's No. 4 spot in World Cup, Karthik gives his take

NEW DELHI: Former India wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik has been impressed with the way young batter Tilak Varma has been performing for the Blues in international cricket and he believes that the left-hander could be the ideal candidate to fill the No.4 spot for the upcoming World Cup.

Tilak made his T20I debut in the recently concluded India-West Indies five-match series. He impressed fans with his composure and maturity on the field, putting a big prize on his wicket. In five matches, he scored 173 runs at an average of 57.66, with one half-century and a strike rate of around 139.

After impressing with the bat in the shortest format of cricket, he ended up earning a call for the Asia Cup where he could end up making his ODI debut for the Blues as well.

"I was very impressed with Tilak Varma," Karthik said during a Cricket World Cup commercial shoot with Emirates as quoted by ICC.

"I think he showed different sorts of temperament to his batting, at times he went all guns blazing up the order, then there was a game where he had to finish it off with Hardik Pandya and he did that as well. More important is that he can bowl off-spin and we have not had somebody who can roll their arm over so that makes that player very special," Karthik added.

One thing that works in Tilak's favour is that he is a left-handed batter in a batting line-up majorly made up of right-handed players and Karthik believes this will play out in his favour.

"Do we need a left-hander? Do we look at Tilak Varma or is Suryakumar (Yadav) that option. Is it wrong to say he (Suryakumar) is just a right-hander because he plays all the types of sweeps that are available in the game and makes it really hard for the spinners," Karthik added.

Karthik further went on to indicate that Shreyas Iyer remains the top contender for the No. 4 position in India's ODI side but the fact that he is returning from a back injury provides others with an opportunity to make their place in the team.

"I think Shreyas Iyer is the right player given his form and the scores he put together over the last eight months before getting injured. He has probably been the in-form batter at No.4, but with that, there is going to be a small issue," Karthik said.

"India is going to be filled with right-handers with six out of the top seven (being) right handers and (Ravindra) Jadeja is at No.7, so can Jadeja bat that little bit higher to bring that left-hand, right-hand combination that is a big question mark for India," Karthik signed off.