Tilak
Varma

Tilak Varma was born on 8 November 2002 into a Telugu speaking family in Hyderabad. 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 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 40 km each way, until Varma's family relocated closer to the academy. In February 2022, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League 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 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. In April 2023, he scored an 84 off 46 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first match of 2023 Indian Premier League.In the playoff match against Gujarat Titans, he scored 43 runs off just 14 balls.