When Salam Bayash spotted a 11-year-old Tilak Varma casually smashing a few balls in Balapur, Hyderabad while playing alongside his friends, he knew right away that he had spotted a gem. However, little did he know that the prodigious talent would zip past a long queue to be considered an India prospect at the age of 20. It has taken years of hard grind, round trips of almost 100 kilometres a day, and tons of runs and wickets for the dream to come closer.
Tilak has become a household name now, especially for those who follow Mumbai Indians ardently. Though the franchise hasn’t done well for a couple of years now, Tilak has grabbed each and every opportunity he gets for the five-time IPL winners. It hasn’t been a smooth ride for Tilak thus far, but it has been well worth it.
“He has been a hardworking boy from day one,” Bayash told Revsportz in an exclusive chat. “There was something different in that little boy. Tilak’s family used to stay in Balapur and I had to convince his parents that the hustle is going to be worth it. Earlier, it used to be a bit difficult as I had to pick him up from his home and take him to our academy and then drop him back after it was all over. It was around 100 kilometres a day in total. But I kept telling him that every step you take now is going to guide you to the top. Just focus on cricket, and everything will fall in place. It took some time for him to realise his potential but when he did, there was no looking back.”
Though Varma was overshadowed by the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Divyaansh Saxena and Dhruv Jurel with the willow at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2019-20, the composure Tilak showed in the middle order was enough for Mumbai Indians to take a punt on the highly rated talent. When one sees Tilak smashing world-class bowlers out of the park with ease, the stillness of his head and the clarity of shot selection strike you immediately.
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“The composure you see now is just because of him,” said Bayash. “I spotted this quality very early in Tilak’s career. He used to prepare for everything even during his club or school matches. It is like the better you study, the calmer you are on the day of your exam. I am glad that he has carried that habit for Hyderabad senior team and Mumbai Indians. These are the little things that can take a player the extra mile.”
Though Tilak catches the eye the most when he plays those traditional flicks – flaunting the Hyderabadi-special wrists – or those sumptuous inside-out shots, he gets the loudest cheer when he executes the unorthodox strokes. The helicopter-flick six against Royal Challengers Bangalore off the last delivery, when he racked up an unbeaten 84 off 46 balls, stands out.
Like every other kid, Tilak had the knack of trying out-of-the-box shots when his coach was not watching, but what stood out was his discipline to work the extra yard even when Bayash was not around.
“Wo bohot maar khaya mere se pehle par maine bhi socha ki ye sab shots bhi zaruri hai aaj ke time pe (I have scolded him many a time for trying those ramp shots and ‘Dilscoops’ but even I realised that one needs to have such strokes in today’s cricket),” said Bayash, who coaches at the Legala Cricket Academy in Hyderabad. “But what separated him from other kids was his work ethic. One day, I had given some exercise to all the kids and walked away. When I came back, only Tilak was doing those and the others were casually hanging out. But at the same time, you need to give a lot of credit to Prithvi Reddy, our academy director, who has always backed Tilak from a very young age.”
Tilak has already cracked many exquisite cover drives and fancy scoops for Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians, making him one of the hottest young properties in the shorter formats. He idolises Suresh Raina, and when you look at those lofted cover drives, it’s not difficult to find an uncanny resemblance between the two.
“One day, I decided to help Tilak meet Suresh Raina,” said Bayash. “Chennai were playing Hyderabad here in Hyderabad. Not only Raina, he ended up meeting Amit Mishra, Cameron White and a few others. While other kids would get starstruck and keep thinking about meeting their idol, the meet-and-greet drove Tilak to achieve bigger things in his career. Milne ke baad wo bola mere se, mujhe Suresh Raina jaisa player banna hai (after the meeting, he told me he wanted to be a player like Raina).”
So, has Tilak given any ‘guru dakshina’ to Bayash yet?
“My dream is to see Tilak play for India across formats and that is what even he wants to achieve,” said Bayash. “Recently, a few players and coaches visited Tilak’s house when Mumbai played Hyderabad in Hyderabad. Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and many others came. I wanted to meet Sachin Tendulkar from my playing days, but couldn’t. That day, it was possible just because of Tilak. It was a dream-come-true moment for me. What better ‘guru dakshina’ than the ‘God of Cricket’ telling you that ‘I have heard a lot about you, and came here to meet you’. That sentence left me emotional. Even Suryakumar Yadav joked that Tilak is in good custody, and there is nothing worry about. These things stay with you.”
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Tilak already has an average of 40 in first-class cricket, with one century and two half-centuries in 11 innings, while his List-A average stands at an impressive 56 with five tons and as many 50s in 25 matches. While Ravindra Jadeja says he is chilling “with the future of India” in an Instagram post, Rohit Sharma, who also captains the national side, has already hinted that fans will see Tilak in the coveted blue jersey. But how easy is it to keep a sane head given the obscene amount of money the youngsters earn from the IPL and advertisements that follow?
“He is ready to play in both whites and coloured jersey,” said Bayash. “He is built to play all formats and hopefully, he will continue to impress the senior members of the team. Talking about money, we have kept Tilak away from the financial aspect of life. He has signed up with RISE talent management firm and they take care of everything on Tilak’s behalf. It is extremely important to stay grounded and rooted. He is just 20, and hasn’t even played 10 per cent of his cricket. There’s lot to learn and grow. What we focus is on how to improve him as a cricketer. “Kids nowadays are hooked to Instagram and social media. We have firmly kept Tilak away from it as much as we can.
When you grow with newly attained name and fame, you meet a lot of new people. If you hangout with them much, the different lifestyles start to affect you and in today’s cut-throat business, you can’t afford to go two steps backwards because of such things.”
Tilak has become the backbone of the Hyderabad squad. He had a smashing season in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022-23, hammering 297 runs in six innings at an average of 49.50 and strike-rate of 136.24. He was soon rewarded with his maiden India ‘A’ call-up for the tour of Bangladesh where he suffered a tricky muscle injury in the first unofficial Test. He returned back to the pavilion retired hurt after scoring 33 off 101 deliveries. He couldn’t play any Ranji Trophy match for his state team upon his return, and returned in the DY Patil T20 Cup earlier this year for Reliance A, scoring a half-century on his comeback.
“Wo 3 mahine tak bat aur ball ko haath bhi nahi laga paya (He couldn’t touch bat or ball for three months),” said Bayash. “It was a tricky phase and he had to move to Mumbai for his treatment and rehabilitation. For someone who is so young, the body heals extremely quick but it was hard to keep him away from cricket. He used to get nervous and say ‘will I ever recover and play like I used to?’ I used to tell him ‘Health is above anything’…But when he returned, it seemed like he was never away. Such experiences teach you a lot.”
Bayash has a growing list of players featuring at different age levels for Hyderabad in both men and women’s cricket. Alankrit Agarwal, another student who plays Ranji Trophy for Hyderabad, is currently with Chennai Super Kings as a net bowler.
In a Mumbai Indians line-up that boasts some of the biggest names in world cricket, Tilak has shone like a diamond and is the highest run-scorer for the franchise in the ongoing IPL 2023 with 219 runs from seven matches at an eye-catching strike-rate of 154. Though Tilak is still in the nascent stage in his career, the future looks bright. Perhaps, as Rohit says, he will feature soon in another blue jersey.
“This is just the beginning,” said Bayash. “India has had so many top players. Sunil Gavakar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni. So many players. I want to see Tilak’s name being taken alongside them one day. He is 20, I am 40. I want him to play top-level cricket till the day I am alive.”
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