{"id":409280,"date":"2026-02-05T12:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/409280\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T12:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:46:08","slug":"tilak-varmas-emotional-comeback-lifts-indias-t20-world-cup-mood-didnt-expect-to-be-back-this-early-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/409280\/","title":{"rendered":"Tilak Varma\u2019s emotional comeback lifts India\u2019s T20 World Cup mood: \u2018Didn\u2019t expect to be back this early\u2019 | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/tilak-varma.jpg\" alt=\"\u2018Didn\u2019t expect to be back this early\u2019: Tilak Varma's emotional comeback lifts India's T20 World Cup mood\" title=\"Tilak Varma\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/> NEW DELHI: India all-rounder Tilak Varma marked a spirited return from injury with an impactful performance and an emotional message of gratitude after the defending champions defeated South Africa by 30 runs in their T20 World Cup warm-up match at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@toisports\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">SUBSCRIBE NOW!<\/a>Fresh from rehabilitation, Tilak admitted he did not expect to be back in action so soon and credited the <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/bcci\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BCCI<\/a> and the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for accelerating his recovery. \u201cTo be honest, I did not expect that I will be back on the field this early. Really thankful for CoE and BCCI. I always say that playing the World Cup is my biggest dream,\u201d he said in a video shared by the BCCI. <\/p>\n<p>Are India favourites to win 2026 T20 World Cup? | Greenstone Lobo makes a HUGE PREDICTION<\/p>\n<p>Walking into a packed stadium chanting his name gave the youngster an emotional lift. \u201cWhen I entered the ropes and everyone was shouting \u2018Tilak, Tilak,\u2019 I really felt nice. It boosted me a lot,\u201d he added, describing the electric atmosphere even during a warm-up game.Inspired by the aggressive intent around him, Tilak said the team\u2019s batting energy pushed him to play freely. \u201cThe way Ishan was batting, the way Abhishek and everyone was going, I was also like, \u2018Mai bhi maarunga jaake.\u2019 The vibe was really terrific, and yeah \u2014 Tilak and the Indian team is ready for the World Cup,\u201d he said.On the field, Tilak backed up his words with a brisk 45 off 19 balls as India piled up 240 for five, building on <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/ishan-kishan\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ishan Kishan<\/a>\u2019s explosive start. The bowlers then held their nerve to restrict South Africa to 210, sealing a confident win.With his comeback timed perfectly, Tilak\u2019s return has added fresh energy to India\u2019s campaign as they shift focus to their World Cup opener against the USA on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW DELHI: India all-rounder Tilak Varma marked a spirited return from injury with an impactful performance and an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[10226,1721,102938,12935,103284,101,152114,8051,77690,56,54,55,152113],"class_list":["post-409280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-bcci","tag-cricket","tag-india-vs-south-africa","tag-indian-cricket-team","tag-ishan-kishan","tag-sports","tag-t20-warm-up-match","tag-t20-world-cup","tag-tilak-varma","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-cup-opener"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}