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Tilak Varma's Slow Knock Highlights Mumbai Indians' Bigger Batting Problem

Cricket Gully | May 21, 2026 1:39 PM CST

Mumbai Indians put in one of those sort of weakest batting showings against Kolkata Knight Riders, at Eden Gardens on Wednesday, ending up with only 147/8. The ground conditions were quite tough, and the surprise rain really didn’t do them any favours either. Still, a few of the batting moments, particularly from Tilak Varma, were kind of hard to read , and honestly a bit confusing.

While most MI batters tried but couldn’t really make much of a difference, Tilak’s innings seemed to stand out, just not in the right way. He made 20 runs off 32 balls, only one six came out of it, and his batting strike rate sat at 62.50, which… well it didn’t quite move anything along.

To underline how hard that knock was, Tilak didn’t reach his first boundary until his 25th delivery, and that is the slowest such start in Indian Premier League 2026 so far. The next slowest, from the same kind of measure, were Ravindra Jadeja, who needed 24 balls versus LSG, and Tilak again, who had to wait 22 deliveries against GT, before he finally struck one cleanly.

What made it even more annoying is that Tilak also logged the slowest IPL innings of 30 balls or more across the last 14 years. The longer overall record still sits with Sourav Ganguly, with a strike rate of 46 back in 2008, yet Tilak’s spell still landed on that unwanted list in a pretty disappointing manner.

It is now the ninth slowest innings in IPL history and, honestly, it kind of sums up how things have been going. The knock also showed up Tilak’s difficult season and that ongoing issue with spin bowling, not just once but again and again. Even if he has reached 356 runs this season, with a century versus GT, his overall show has mostly landed under what was expected.

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Against spinners this year, the left hand batter has managed only 103 runs across 10 innings, at a batting average of 17, and a strike rate of 15.32. Roughly 32 percent of the balls he has faced versus spin turned out to be dot deliveries, plus he has been sent back six times, which is not exactly a small number.

With only one league match left for Mumbai Indians this season , Tilak’s final numbers might not seem too bad, though, kinda. Still, a couple of his innings have made folks wonder about his method when it comes to spin bowling. At the same time Rohit Sharma managed 15 off 13 balls , Suryakumar Yadav got 15 from six deliveries. And then Hardik Pandya chipped in 26 from 27 balls.