Asia Cup 2025 final: The untold story of Tilak Varma’s journey

India Today

From clutching a plastic bat in his sleep to clinching India’s Asia Cup win against Pakistan, Tilak Varma’s journey is built on sacrifice, resilience, and raw talent.

Transcript

00:00Right after taking India to victory, he ran towards the stands, laid his bat on the grass,

00:08thanked the forces above and finally unleashed all that had built up, through the match and

00:12through the years that led to this moment.

00:21Tilak Smada Gayatri recalled his childhood obsession with cricket, how he would go to bed

00:25clutching a plastic bat and ball, unwilling to part with the game even in his sleep.

00:29Namburi Thakur Tilak Verma was born on November 8, 2002 into a modest Telugu household in Badapur,

00:35Hyderabad. His father Namburi Nagaraju worked as an electrician. His mother Gayatri Devi is a homemaker.

00:41It was the family's financial situation that loomed over Tilak's cricketing dream.

00:44Into Salam Bayash, he was surprised when he saw a young Tilak hit a hundred against a private

00:49academy team from Hyderabad without any professional training. Coach Bayash took him under his wing.

00:54In an interview, Bayash recalled that Tilak traveled 40 km to reach his training ground

00:58every day for practice. At just 20, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians for eight times the base

01:03price. It was then that he fulfilled the family dream of owning a home. In 2024, Tilak scored 151

01:09of just 67 balls at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and also became the first batter to record three

01:14consecutive T20 centuries. At the Asia Cup final against Pakistan on September 28, the scoreboard

01:20read 10-for-2 when Tilak stepped in. The soaring required run rate looked like a certain disaster,

01:25but what followed was an innings that would not just secure India's ninth Asia Cup title,

01:29but also the arrival of a star in his own right.

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