Indian cricketer Tilak Varma became the first-ever batter to score three consecutive centuries in T20 cricket. The 22-year-old achieved the feat during Hyderabad's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 opener against Meghalaya at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium C, Rajkot on Saturday. (More Cricket News)
Asked to bat first, skipper Varma hit 151 off just 67 balls to help 2009-10 finalists post 248/4 in 20 overs -- fifth highest in the history of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. And it proved too big a total for the minnows to chase. Meghalaya were eventually dismissed for 69 all out in 15.1 overs with Aniketh Reddy (4/11) and Tanay Thyagarajan (3/15) sharing seven wickets.
Hyderabad's 179-run winning margin is also the joint highest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history. In 2019, Andra beat Nagaland by the same margin after setting a 245-run target at Mulapadu.
Tilak Varma T20 World Record
Varma, who arrived in the middle after the fall of opener G Rahul Singh for a three-ball duck, raced to his half-century in 28 balls and then took another 23 deliveries to reach the century in a knock laced with 14 fours and 10 sixes.
In the process, he became the first Indian male cricketer to have a 150-plus score in T20s. Kiran Navgire, now representing Maharashtra, scored an unbeaten 162 for Nagaland against Arunachal Pradesh in the Senior Women's T20 Trophy in 2022.
This was Varma's third consecutive T20 century. During red-ball India's tour of South Africa 2024 earlier this month, the left-handed batter slammed back-to-back unbeaten tons -- 107 at Centurion and 120 at Johannesburg -- and helped India seal the four-match T20I series 3-1.
He thus became the first player - male or female - to score centuries in three successive innings in T20 cricket.
What Next For Tilak Varma?
The batting allrounder was one of the five players, alongside Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, retained by Mumbai Indians ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL mega auction for the 2025 season.
The middle-order who also bowls right-arm off-break joined Mumbai Indians in 2022 and has scored 1156 runs in 38 matches with a strike rate of 146.32.
IPL 2025 mega auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday (November 24, 2024) and Monday. Action will begin at 3:30pm IST (12:30pm local time). A total of 577 players are set to be featured in the Mega Auction. Mumbai Indians have a fund of INR 45 crore to complete their roster. A team can have a maximum of 25 players and a minimum of 18 players.
IPL Mega Auction Live Streaming And Telecast Details
In India, the Indian Premier League mega auction can be watched on Star Sports network. IPL mega live streaming will be available on the JioCinema app and website.
The IPL 2025 season will start on March 14, 2025.
