Tilak Varma in action. (Surjeet Yadav / CREIMAS for BCCI)

When Shreyas Iyer’s wicket fell, India were 69/4, still needing 112 from 55 balls. Tilak Varma walked into the middle and slammed a 25-ball 51 in Christchurch. It was not an innings played at a single gear. When he was batting with Naman Dhir, he let the right-hander do the hitting while he played second fiddle. But once Dhir fell, the southpaw turned up the music alongside Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Speaking about his mindset in the middle, Tilak said: “No, at that stage I was just thinking about playing till the end.”

The 23-year-old also opened up about the conversation he had with Head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. “They said one thing that we all believe, and all of India believes in you. If you stay till the end, you will win the game for us.…