Teams might want to raise an objection to the way the IPL’s second timeout is currently timed—but Tilak Varma is quickly giving them reasons to think twice. For the second time in the season, he took control right after that brief interruption and flipped the contest in his side’s favour.
Earlier in the tournament, Varma had already shown the same kind of acceleration. Against Gujarat Titans, he transformed Mumbai Indians’ chase in Ahmedabad by moving from 19 runs off 22 balls to an explosive 101 off 45 deliveries. That surge powered MI to 99 runs in the final six overs, sealing a first-ever win over GT at the venue. In Dharamsala, the task was even steeper: Mumbai were chasing 80 in the last six on a surface that offered extra difficulty. Varma returned after the break with a boundary off the first ball, then followed it up with a decisive 20-run over that disrupted Yuzvendra Chahal’s rhythm. The pressure only intensified, and Punjab Kings’ campaign was effectively extinguished.
It was the fifth occasion in IPL history where a team entered the last three overs needing at least 50 and still managed to win. The key difference, however, looked less like luck and more like composure—something visible in Varma’s conversations during the strategic pause and again with Will Jacks, the partner at the crease when the winning runs were finally gathered.
So far in Dharamsala, the grounds have not been straightforward for batters. The earlier wicket had plenty of movement off the seam, while this one—drier in nature—created different challenges through irregular bounce and pace from consistent lengths. That theme showed in Shardul Thakur’s approach, particularly as he targeted the top of the stumps with cross-seam deliveries. For Shreyas Iyer, the ball found sufficient movement away, likely helped by a crack in the pitch. Marco Jansen, meanwhile, kept it skidding low; the same kind of behaviour played out when Corbin Bosch trapped Shashank Singh lbw.
With cross-seam deliveries doing damage in the first innings, the second stretched the same theme in a different direction: slower balls. Varma was alert to it, but he was also aware that the ball was coming off the bat with unusual ease in the high-altitude conditions. The tournament’s biggest six arrived on that very night—Varma launching Chahal for a straight hit that travelled a long way.
“When we had the second break, the second strategic timeout, I was talking to the coach that just one big over, and we’ll finish the game,” Varma said in an interview with the broadcasters. “’Just keep believing in me, I’ll be doing it for the team.’ That’s what I said, and I was just waiting for that one big over. Unfortunately it came against Yuzi bhai, but I’m glad that I’ve finished the game.”
Varma’s execution was notable in how he adjusted to the bowling plan, especially after Jansen altered his pace in the 14th over. From there, the left-arm seamer leaned heavily on slower deliveries, conceding only five runs in that phase. For the death overs, Varma effectively flipped his batting blueprint and signalled the same idea to Jacks. He positioned himself to attack the slower balls—because if the bowler stuck to a more predictable pace, hurried them into the big swing, the thinner air in the hills would do the rest.
“I just said, ‘Just hold the shape and wait for the slow ones,’” Varma explained about his chat with Jacks. “Because the ball is flying here. If they bowl quick ones and [even] if you just blindly swing, if it just hits the bat, it’s just going. So wait for that slower one. That was the only ball we were actually slightly struggling to hit for sixes.”
That plan played out ball by ball. Jansen began the 18th over with a slower delivery, and Varma was ready this time. He had already identified Jansen’s most dangerous option on the night and seized it immediately, sweeping that ball for a 96-metre six. Even when the faster offering arrived, Varma didn’t fall into a mindless attempt to clear the field—he used timing and loft to drive it through mid-off. When the final slower ball came, he again punished it, pulling it for a straight six that nearly ended the chase. In total, Varma carved out 31 runs off 12 slower balls.
PBKS, meanwhile, couldn’t quite see the same picture in time. The slower ball into the batter’s arc dismantled their decision-making, and they were pushed into yorkers—yet that game doesn’t leave much room for error. With MI looking to rebuild after a disappointing season, this match becomes a reminder of the kind of batter they can build around—and the kind of match-turning role Varma can deliver when the second timeout arrives.
