Tilak Varma starts his International career with a bang, eclipsing Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, and Shubman Gill in T20I Rankings

Tilak Varma is ranked above Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan.


Tilak Varma starts his International career with a bang, eclipsing Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, and Shubman Gill in T20I Rankings

Tilak Varma batting during India vs West Indies 2nd T20I (Image via BCCI Twitter)

In the 2022 IPL Auction, Mumbai Indians picked up a 19-year-old, left-handed batsman from Hyderabad for Rs 1.7 Crore. Sunrisers Hyderabad had opened the bid at the base price of Rs. 20 Lakhs and were joined by Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians, and Chennai Super Kings. In the end, Mumbai Indians got the player when CSK dropped out of the race. That season, he scored 397 runs in 14 games, striking at 131. That player is Tilak Varma.

Tilak Varma in the next few months continued to impress, scoring runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, becoming a key player for Hyderabad. This also earned him a call-up to the India A squad, where he played against New Zealand and Bangladesh. He scored a century in his first game.

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But in the first 4-Day game against Bangladesh, he had to retire hurt due to a strain and missed months of cricket. This included the 2022/23 Ranji Trophy as well, where Hyderabad failed to win a single game and got relegated to the Plate Group for the first time in their history.

Tilak Varma made his comeback in the 2023 IPL with a bang, scoring 84 off 46 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Although he missed a few games due to injury, he finished the season with 343 runs in 11 games. This included great knocks against Hyderabad, Delhi and Lucknow. 

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Despite playing only three matches, Tilak Varma finds himself ahead of Indian team regulars in T20I Rankings

Tilak Varma T20I debut
Tilak Varma wearing his debut cap (Image via BCCI Twitter)

After playing for the South Zone in the Duleep Trophy, where he scored 114 runs in 4 innings, he traveled to West Indies to play the T20I series. He made his debut along with Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar, and he scored 39 off 22 balls, which included two boundaries and 3 sixes. 

In the next match, he brought up his first T20I half-century, despite it being in a losing cause. He played a very responsible inning, making sure he didn’t get out while wickets were falling from the other end. In the next game, he missed out on his 2nd half-century. Varma finished the game by scoring 49. India needed 2 off 14 balls, but captain Hardik Pandya hit Rovman Powell for a six. Hardik was called out by fans for not allowing Varma to get his 50.

Nevertheless, despite playing only three games, on August 8th, Varma found himself in 46th place in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting rankings. He was above Indian team regulars like Captain Hardik Pandya (53rd), Keeper Ishan Kishan (54th), and opener Shubman Gill (68th). The only Indian batsmen above Varma right now are Suryakumar Yadav (1st), Virat Kohli (19th), KL Rahul (33rd) and Rohit Sharma (34th). 

With such performances in white ball cricket, fans and players want Tilak Varma to be fast-tracked into the ODI squad so that he can play in the upcoming Asia Cup and ICC ODI World Cup.

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