Mumbai Indians came up with the shoddiest batting performance against Kolkata Knight Riders, at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, where they could only manage to score 147/8. Yes, the pitch can be blamed too, and so can the weather (rain without prediction), but at the end of the day, some of the batting performances, especially by Tilak Varma, are inexplicable.
MI, Tilak Varma struggle vs KKR
Not that the other batters were any great, but TV could only score 20 in 32, with just one six, at a strike-rate of 62.50. Just to add a bit of context into, how big a struggle it was for Tilak, he scored his first boundary in 25th delivery, the most taken in this IPL 2026. The next on the list are Ravindra Jadeja (24 vs LSG), and again Tilak (22 vs GT).
That is not even the most embarrassing part. Much to the dismay of MI and the batter, Tilak came up with the slowest innings (min 30 balls), in the last 14 years of IPL. While the record for the slowest innings lies with Sourav Ganguly (SR of 46 in 2008), Tilak rolled back the years, but not in a positive way. (Stats by – The cricket Panda)
Lowest Strike Rate in an IPL match(min. 30 balls)◎ 46.7: Ganguly 14 vs Deccan (2008)◎ 48.6: Karthik 17 vs PBKS (2010)◎ 54.8: Hayden 17 vs MI (2010)◎ 58.1: Yuvraj 18 vs DC (2009)◎ 59.4: Kallis 19 vs Deccan (2010)◎ 59.4: Hussey 19 vs RR (2012)◎ 61.3: Ponting 19 vs… pic.twitter.com/mNsO8iP4HN
— The Cricket Panda (@TheCricketPanda) May 20, 2026It still is the 9th slowest overall in the history of IPL. This further sheds light on the kind of season the southpaw batter has had, and the struggles against spinners have persisted. Despite scoring 356 runs in the tournament, including a ton vs GT, he has been largely under par. This year, he has been poor vs the slower bowlers, scoring 103 runs in 10 innings — at an average of 17 and a strike rate of 15. 32% deliveries have also been dots, has been dismissed 6 times.
At the end of the tournament, with just one more match remaining for MI this year, his overall numbers might not look as bad, but a few innings have really raised concerns for him, as to how he tackles spin. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma scored 15 from 13, Suryakumar Yadav 15 from 6, and Hardik Pandya 26 from 27.
Tilak Varma plays slowest innings in 14 years, amplifies MI’s batting woes Inside Sport India.
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