'Sourav Ganguly Told me...': Virender Sehwag Cites His India Debut in 1999 as he Advises Tilak Varma to Improve on Two Things

India batting legend Virender Sehwag has advised Tilak Varma to work on his weakness and fitness to build on his impressive performance in IPL 2023.

The Mumbai Indians youngster impressed many this season and scored 343 runs in 11 matches at a decent average of 42.88. After missing a few matches, he made a superb 43 runs off 14 balls in the second qualifier to rebuild Mumbai Indians’ chase after they suffered early blows.

Varma was signed by MI ahead of IPL 2022 for Rs 1.7 crore and made an impact in his debut season by scoring 397 runs in 14 matches. Captain Rohit Sharma has often lauded Tilak for his batting and said in the past that the southpaw will represent India soon.

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Sehwag has advised Tilak to remain focused regarding his fitness and skills after the IPL 2023.

“He should focus on two things: improve his fitness and identify the skills that he can work on, as well as the mindset. It often happens when you play regular cricket, you change yourself with time. But when you’re not playing cricket, you have to focus on your fitness and your skills. Like Suryakumar Yadav, he practiced a lot for his shots,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

Sehwag walked down the memory lane and recalled the time when he made his debut and was dismissed by Shoaib Akhtar. The then India captain Sourav Ganguly gave him valuable advice after that.

He further advised Varma to identify his weaknesses and work hard on them to make it big in IPL 2024.

“Tilak Varma should focus on improving his weakness. It reminds me of when I played for India for the first time in 1999, I was dismissed by Shoaib Akhtar. Before I could bring my bat down, the ball hit my pad. So, Dada (Ganguly) told me one thing… ‘go back, practice against fast bowling, so you come better prepared’. I used to play middle-order, I got spin, and by the time fast bowlers came, I had already scored a century. Likewise, Tilak Varma needs to look on where are his weaknesses,” Sehwag said.