Tilak Varma Biography: Early Life, Domestic, International, IPL Career, Stats, and Achievements

Namboori Thakur Tilak Varma is a young Indian international cricketer known for his left-hand batting and right-arm off-break bowling. He is a batting all-rounder known for his calm temperament, clean strokeplay, and explosive finishing in T20s. His breakthrough came with the IPL’s Mumbai Indians.

Tilak Varma is the youngest batsman to score a T20I century against the top 10 nations and the first to score back-to-back unbeaten T20I hundreds. Apart from international cricket, he is also effective in other formats, such as First-Class, List A, T20, and IPL.

Early Life 

Tilak Varma was born on 8 November 2002 in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He was from a modest middle-class family where his father, Namboori Nagaraju, was an electrician and his mother, Gayatri Devi, was a homemaker. Tilak Varma developed an interest in cricket from a young age, where he played tennis ball cricket.

Later, he joined the Legala Cricket Academy in Lingampally, Hyderabad, under Coach Bayash. In spite of having financial hurdles, his family supported him to reach his goal. Their family relocated closer to the academy to support his cricketing dream.

Tilak Varma studied at the Crescent Model English School and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Hyderabad. Then he joined Lepakshi Junior College, Hyderabad, and finally graduated with a BBA from Andhra University.

Initially, Tilak faced rejection in the local selections, but he took it as a challenge and improved his skills and grew stronger. He played for various domestic teams and impressed the selectors.

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Domestic Career

Tilak Varma was a consistent performer in the various underage cricket teams, which helped him to get a spot in the senior team. He started his domestic career by representing Hyderabad in 2018. Tilak made his debut by playing the First-Class match in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy on 30 December 2018 against Andhra. He was 16 years old when he made his first-class debut.

Then on 28 February 2019, Tilak made his T20 debut in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali. Later on 28 September 2019, he made his List A debut in the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy.  He quickly gained recognition for his fearless strokeplay and composure in T20 cricket.

International Career

Tilak Varma’s international debut was in the T20I against the West Indies on 3 August 2023. In his debut match, he impressed by scoring 39 off 22 balls and taking 2 catches. In the second match on 6 August 2023, he scored 51 runs and became the second-youngest Indian to score a T20I fifty after Rohit Sharma. Mumbai Indians retained Tilak in subsequent seasons due to his consistent performances. This was the record by the second Indian ever to hit two consecutive T20I centuries.

On 15 September 2023, Tilak made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in the 2023 Asia Cup. He showed signs of stability and control in middle-order batting. Tilak Varma has represented India in 4 ODI matches and scored 68 runs. In 25 Twenty20 International matches, he has scored 749 runs while playing for India.

IPL Career

Tilak Varma started his IPL journey with the Mumbai Indians in 2022. He was bought by the MI for Rs 1.7 crore. He made his IPL debut on 27 March 2022 against Delhi Capitals. His breakthrough performance came in the 2nd match against the Rajasthan Royals, where he smashed 61 off 33 balls. In his debut season, he scored 397 runs with an average of 36+ by playing in the middle order.

Then, in later years, he was retained by the Mumbai Indians. In IPL 2023, he scored 84 off 46 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was a perfect fit for the MI middle order.

In IPL 2025, he played 16 matches and scored 343 runs, and made a valuable contribution in the middle order of the MI.

Batting Career Summary

Bowling Career Summary