Mumbai: A Ranji debutant at 16, Tilak Varma always had the batting chops. But there was a fear that he would be lost in Hyderabad cricket’s constant administrative strife.
End up in the wrong team and it can take a while before the selectors notice you and Hyderabad just seemed to fit the description. Twice Ranji trophy winners, they were relegated to the Plate Group recently. And for a player like Varma, a way out of the quagmire was a necessity.
It wasn’t quite clear what that path would be though. The talented left-hander had earned himself a berth in the 2020 India U19 World Cup side but once there, he couldn’t make the opportunity count. Yashasvi Jaiswal attracted all the eyeballs by plundering 400 runs in 6 matches. Varma, on the other hand, managed just 86 runs in the same number of games.
He may have not had the best of tournaments but the Mumbai Indians (MI) scouts had been keeping an eye on him. It was a way for him to claim a place in the limelight. The chance, though, wasn’t just handed to him. He had to work for it.
Varma still vouches for those MI trials, the ones in which he was rejected, and the one where he was certified ‘ready’ for bidding in the Indian Premier League auction. The 22-year-old is a classic IPL find, tracked by hawk-eyed scouts and carefully mentored. The path that had once seemed sketchy was now clearer and it left the national selectors with little doubt about his ability.
With the seniors still holding down a place in the playing XI, he had to wait out this year’s T2O World Cup but since then, he has swiftly become a regular in India’s playing XI. His maiden T20I hundred – 107* (56b, 8×4, 7×6) in the third T20I against South Africa at Centurion showcased a rare match-winning ability and, at 22 years and 5 days, he became the second youngest to score a T20I hundred for India. Only Yashasvi Jaiswal, his old team-mate, has done it faster — in 48 balls against Nepal in 2023.
A lot of Varma’s early success is propelled by a desire to prove a point. Before he had tasted IPL’s riches, he had barely enough money to keep his dream alive. Then, it was all about scoring so many runs that he wouldn’t have to thread the only bat he had. The goalpost shifted soon after.
Wednesday, though, was about living up to a promise he had made to captain Suryakumar Yadav. He wanted to bat at No.3 and he told his skipper that he wanted the opportunity.
At one level, Surya was empowering a talented youngster to bat higher and aiming to create a bigger impact. In terms of strategy, it wasn’t sound to promote anyone ahead of himself though, given that he is arguably the most destructive batter in the business. It also compromised on left-right batting combinations.
But as it turned out, batting two left-handers Varma and Abhishek Sharma together worked out just fine for India. Their presence in the middle delayed the introduction of South Africa’s sole left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj into the attack and helped them open the floodgates.
“The team was backing us two, despite flopping in the last two matches. We were told that we are a champion side, a World Cup-winning side, so the brand of cricket should be like that. We should play bindaas cricket, without pressure even when wickets are lost,” said Varma.
That sort of ‘bindaas cricket’, Varma had become accustomed to playing every alternate night in the IPL. He combined it with tactical awareness to lay the foundation of his hundred. The left-hander exploited the short square boundaries at SuperSport Park, pressed the accelerator in Maharaj’s final over by exploiting the favourable match-up and batted through the innings. You might remember the big shots but the innings was also a measure of Varma’s improved game sense.
Last IPL season, his franchise captain Hardik Pandya had been critical of his lack of game awareness by not taking on Delhi Capitals’ left-arm spinner Axar Patel in a high-scoring run chase. His knock on Wednesday night showed that he had learnt his lessons.
In the Centurion T20I, he did not put a foot wrong. Batting positions in T20 are not permanent and used tactically but Varma loves to prove a point. It fuels his desire. One of MI’s five retentions before the mega auction, it was fulfillment of a goal he set for himself.
“He’s definitely batting at No 3 going ahead. He asked for it and delivered,” said Surya.
Perhaps equally satisfying for him was that this series marked his return to international cricket after a finger dislocation saw him miss the Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka series.
“I was feeling very bad to miss out on good opportunities. I was telling myself that, mera time aayega (my time will come). I wanted to make it count,” said Varma.
And few can argue that he didn’t.