Tilak Varma was born on 8 November 2002 into a Telugu 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.[4]
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 kilometres (25 mi) each way, until Varma's family relocated closer to the academy.[5][6][7][8]
Varma obtained his early education at Crescent Model English School and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Hyderabad.[9] He completed his secondary education in Lepakshi Junior College, Hyderabad,[10] and, at present, is pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Andhra University.[citation needed]
He made his List A debut on 28 September 2019, for Hyderabad in the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy.[13] During the tournament, he scored 180 runs in five games and also took four wickets.
In December 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.[14] He played six games in the competition and managed to score only 86 runs.
In July 2023, he got his maiden call-up for Indian cricket team for the T20I series on the tour of West Indies.[20] He made his T20I debut on 3 August 2023 in the first match of the series.[21] He top-scored for India with 39 off just 22 deliveries and he managed to take 2 catches in the same match.
On 6 August 2023, he made his first fifty in the second T20 match played against the West Indies, becoming the second youngest Indian to score a fifty in men's T20I after Rohit Sharma.[22] He ended the series as the highest run scorer.
On 13 November 2024, Varma hit his maiden T20I century, striking 107 not out off of 56 balls against South Africa to become the youngest player to do so against a Top 10 nation, and the second-youngest to achieve this feat overall.[26] On 15 November 2024, he smashed an unbeaten 120 runs off just 47 balls against South Africa in the same T20I series, becoming the second Indian cricketer to hit two consecutive T20I centuries, and the first ever cricketer to remain unbeaten on both.
