IPL 2022: Tilak Varma's friends frantically cheer on each bid during mega auction

Hyderabad’s Tilak Varma is on cloud nine after bagging an INR 1.7 crore deal with IPL’s most successful franchise Mumbai Indians on the second day of the 2022 mega auction. A left-handed batter from Hyderabad, Varma’s name inflicted a bidding war between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians before the latter claimed him for 8.5 times his base price of INR 20 lakh.

With each passing raise of the paddle in the auction room at Bengaluru’s ITC Gardenia hotel, also raised the decibel levels around Varma, who was surrounded by a group of ebullient friends, cheering for him with great passion in Cuttack, where he is currently with Hyderabad Ranji Trophy team.

More about Tilak Varma

Varma, born on November 08, 2002, in Hyderabad, grabbed the limelight at the domestic U16 tournament in Hyderabad before breaking into India’s U19 team. He was the leading run-scorer at the quadrangular series India played in the build-up to the 2020 U19 World Cup, where India recorded runners-up finish after losing to Bangladesh. Varma had scores of 38 and 48 in the two games he played.

He was a part of Hyderabad’s squad in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored 180 runs, including a match-winning 139 against Delhi at No. 3, while he picked a four-for with his right-arm off-break against Haryana in another winning cause. Before that, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he amassed 215 at nearly 36 and an impressive strike rate of 149, making a case for himself as a top-order batter who could chip in with a few overs of spin.

Renowned for their top-notch scouting, an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians is surely a reason to be chuffed about, for no ordinary player barges into MI’s radar. It was only obvious then, that all of Varma’s friends were jumping in joy seeing the most successful IPL franchise frenetically chasing him at the auction.

Now a part of the “family”, Varma will rub shoulders with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishan Kishan amongst others. Meanwhile, other big signings by Mumbai during the two-day event included Jofra Archer (INR 8 crore), Tim David (INR 8.25 crore), while they broke the bank to reacquire Kishan for INR 15.5 crore, eventually the most expensive buy of the year.

Mumbai had secured their core by retaining skipper Rohit Sharma alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah.