Fresh off rehabilitation, Tilak admitted he hadn’t expected to return to competitive action so soon and credited the BCCI and the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for fast-tracking his recovery. Speaking in a video shared by the BCCI, the youngster said, “To 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.”
Walking into a packed stadium chanting his name proved to be an emotional moment for the left-hander. “When I entered the ropes and everyone was shouting ‘Tilak, Tilak,’ I really felt nice. It boosted me a lot,” he said, adding that the atmosphere felt electric despite the match being a warm-up fixture.
