Suresh Raina and Tilak Varma – a rare known tale: India has always been a nation that has placed its beliefs and hopes in small beginnings that would culminate into the birth of stars. Especially when it comes to cricket, the sheer count of these stories is just gigantic.
In one such fable, it was revealed how Mumbai Indians’ latest batting sensation Tilak Varma’s life story completely changed post a five-minute confab with Suresh Raina.
The long-lost connection between Suresh Raina and Tilak Varma
In all likelihood, for Raina it would just be one of those moments where a fanboy and his cricketing preceptor would be in tow of him, hoping for a quality talk, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes. Life is always difficult for fans, isn’t it?
A golden conversation back then evolved into a full-blown star, breathing fire in the ongoing edition of the IPL. Despite Mumbai’s woeful run so far, Tilak Varma has evoked quite a few awe-inspiring reactions, hammering the best of the lot with an exuberant illustration of strokeplay.
An unheralded Hyderabadi cricket coach, Salam Bayash recounted the experience of seeing Raina with a young Tilak on his trail. He was heard saying, “I had a friend of mine, who was a local manager. I took his help to procure permission to watch the practice and had little Tilak accompany.”
He further said, “I distinctly remember a wide-eyed Tilak just watching Suresh Raina’s batting with awe. He stood transfixed and watched every shot played by Raina. Then we clicked pictures with him and I strongly feel that the “special meeting” with Raina was enough for Tilak to decide that he wanted to become a cricketer.”
The five-time champions of the tournament are still to savor their opening win as they slumped down to the likes of Delhi Capitals in their openers and were trumped by a soaring Rajasthan Royals in their second encounter.
Irrespective of the bitter pills that Mumbai swallowed in their first two games, Tilak Verma crafted a crucial 61-run knock that saw the nation taking notice. He bagged a contract of Rs 1.7 crore, quite an amazing sum for an uncapped player who is new to the glitz and glam of IPL.
Salam Bayash always stayed close to the kid and played an instrumental part in shaping up his cricketing career before the young kid was seen taking the IPL by storm.
