Mumbai Indians (MI) didn’t have a good start to the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they were handed an eight-wicket defeat by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their first game on Sunday (April 2).
Asked to bat first, MI got off to a very poor start and lost four of their batters with just 48 runs on the board. When it almost felt like the Mumbai-based team would be restricted to a below-par total of 120-130, Tilak Varma powered MI to a competitive score of 171/7 in 20 overs through his brilliant 84 runs off 46 balls. During his knock, Tilak smashed thirteen boundaries which included four sixes. One of those maximums by the 20-year-old came off Harshal Patel in the last ball of the first innings.
On the sixth ball of the 20th over, Tilak struck a helicopter shot off a fuller delivery by Harshal that cleared the long-on and went straight for a six. The stroke by the left-handed batter soon became a major talking point on social media, and cricket enthusiasts even termed it a replica of legendary MS Dhoni’s helicopter shot.
Here’s the video:
#tilakverma helicopter shot pic.twitter.com/qSSKis2hMl
— Gopal Prajapat (@GopalPr04669526) April 2, 2023
However, despite Tilak’s brilliant effort, MI failed to defend the total and ended up on the losing side. Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli were the picks of the batters for RCB, who guided their team to a convincing eight-wicket victory by scoring 72 and 82 runs, respectively.
Speaking about Tilak’s knock on the Star Sports after the match, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif said that if you watch the MI batter’s helicopter shot through a mirror, you will feel it is Dhoni.
“Leg side is his strong suit. He uses his bottom hand but he makes room as well, hits sixes straight down the ground and plays the scoop shot. So it is not that he can only score on the leg side. The helicopter shot – if you watch it through a mirror, you will feel it is MS Dhoni because you will see him as a right-hander there,” said Kaif.