Namboori Thakur Tilak Varma (; born 8 November 2002) is an Indian professional

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays as a left-handed batsman and part-time

off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...

bowler. He made his international debut for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 3 August 2023 in a

T20I Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

match against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. He plays for

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

in domestic cricket and

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

(IPL).

Early life

Namboori Thakur Tilak Varma was born on 8 November 2002 into a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

family in

. His father Namboori Nagaraju worked as an electrician, and his mother Gayatri Devi is a housewife. He has an elder brother, Tarun Varma. Tilak Varma developed an early interest in cricket and was spotted playing

tennis ball cricket Tennis ball cricket (Softball Cricket) is a variant of cricket played using a tennis ball. It is popular in the Indian subcontinent and is also played in Middle-East, United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. A tennis ball is easier to play ...

by coach Salim Bayash at the age of 11. Bayash took him under his wing and trained him at the Legala Cricket Academy, Lingampally. Bayash would ferry Varma to his academy and back home on his scooter, a journey of more than each way, until Varma's family relocated closer to the academy. Varma obtained his early education at Crescent Model English School and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Hyderabad. He completed his secondary education in Lepakshi Junior College, Hyderabad, and, at present, is pursuing a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

degree from

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

Domestic career

He made his first-class debut for

in the

2018–19 Ranji Trophy The 2018–19 Ranji Trophy was the 85th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament that took place in India between November 2018 and February 2019. Vidarbha were the defending champions. The final took place between ...

on 30 December 2018. In the tournament, he scored 215 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 147.26. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

debut for Hyderabad in the

2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy The 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was the eleventh edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, an annual Twenty20 tournament in India. Played from 24 March to 7 April 2015, it was contested by 37 Ranji Trophy teams, including the nine expansion ...

on 28 February 2019. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut on 28 September 2019, for Hyderabad in the

2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy The 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy was the 27th edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, an annual List A cricket tournament in India. It took place in September and October 2019, after the 2019–20 Duleep Trophy, Duleep Trophy and before the 2019� ...

. During the tournament, he scored 180 runs in five games and also took four wickets. In December 2019, he was named in India's squad for the

2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2020 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament that was held in South Africa from 17 January to 9 February 2020. It was the thirteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the second to be ...

. He played six games in the competition and managed to score only 86 runs. In the 2021-22 Vijay Hazare Trophy, he scored 180 runs in five games and took four wickets.

Franchise career

In February 2022, he was bought by the

in the

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

for the

2022 Indian Premier League The 2022 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, TATA IPL 2022) was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket ...

tournament. The base price was Rs. 20 lakh and he was bought by Mumbai Indians at Rs. 1.7 crore. In the second match of the league, he scored a 33-ball-61 against

Rajasthan Royals The Rajasthan Royals, also known as RR, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight franchises, the team is owned by Manoj ...

at the

DY Patil Stadium The DY Patil Stadium (officially known as Dr. DY Patil Sports Stadium) is a multi-purpose sports arena in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Owned by Marathi politician Dnyandeo Yashwantrao Patil, it is based in the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy ...

Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (; also known as New Bombay, its official name until 1995) is a large city next to Mumbai, located in the Konkan division of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is situated in Thane distr ...

. In April 2023, he scored an 84 off 46 balls against

Royal Challengers Bangalore The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...

in their first match of

2023 Indian Premier League The 2023 Indian Premier League (also known as Tata IPL 2023 for sponsorship reasons and sometimes referred to as IPL 2023 or IPL 16) was the 16th season of the Indian Premier League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league in India. It is organise ...

. In the playoff match against

Gujarat Titans The Gujarat Titans, also known as GT, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The home ground of the team is Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The franchise is o ...

, he scored 43 runs off just 14 balls.

International career

In July 2023, he got his maiden call-up for

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and is a full member nation of the International Cricket Council with T ...

for the T20I series on the tour of West Indies. He made his T20I debut on 3 August 2023 in the first match of the series. He top-scored for India with 39 off just 22 deliveries and he managed to take 2 catches in the same match. On 6 August 2023, he made his first fifty in the second T20 match played against the West Indies, becoming the second youngest Indian to score a fifty in men's T20I after

Rohit Sharma Rohit Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian Cricket, international cricketer and the Captain (cricket), captain of the India national cricket team, national team in One Day International, ODIs. He is also a former captain in Tests and T20 ...

. He ended the series as the highest run scorer. He has also been named in the Indian squads for the three-match T20I tour of Ireland and the

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially the 19th Asian Games () and also known as Hangzhou 2022 ( zh, c=, s=杭州2022, labels=no), were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The ...

to be held in

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

, China. He made his ODI debut on 15 September 2023 against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

2023 Asia Cup The 2023 Asia Cup (also known as Super 11 Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th edition of the men's Asia Cup cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players ...

. On 13 November 2024, Varma hit his maiden T20I century, striking 107 not out off of 56 balls against South Africa to become the youngest player to do so against a Top 10 nation, and the second-youngest to achieve this feat overall. On 15 November 2024, he smashed an unbeaten 120 runs off just 47 balls against South Africa in the same T20I series, becoming the second Indian cricketer to hit two consecutive T20I centuries, and the first ever cricketer to remain unbeaten on both.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varma, Tilak 2002 births Living people Indian cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Hyderabad cricketers Mumbai Indians cricketers Cricketers from Hyderabad, India Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Telugu cricketers South Zone cricketers