GAME TIME
Tilak Varma will at least play four four-day games. © Getty
Tilak Varma has been recruited by Hampshire County Cricket Club. The left-handed Hyderabad batter has been offered a stint for close to two months by the Southampton head-quartered county. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) have extended him the NOC.
According to information available with Cricbuzz, Varma, 22, will play for the English county from June 18 to August 2 during which he will feature in four four-day games initially. Whether he will represent the county in white ball games also is not clear.
“The Hyderabad Cricket Association is happy to inform that Hyderabad International player Mr. N Thakur Tilak Varma has been approached by the team Hampshire County to play in the UK County Championship League. The Hyderabad Cricket Association wishes him a great stint with Hampshire County,” the HCA said in a statement.
In 18 first class games, Varma has 1204 runs at an average of over 50 with five centuries and four half centuries. He is of course a white-ball specialist, having represented India in four ODIs and 25 T20Is with a particularly healthy average of close to 50 (49.93) average in T20Is (749 runs in 24 innings) and a strike rate of 155.
Hampshire county, as is well known, has been purchased by Hyderabad-based GMR Group, and it is not a surprise that the club has chosen Varma. James Vince, a right-handed batter and an occasional right-arm medium bowler, is the white ball skipper of Hampshire. Ben Brown, a right-handed wicket keeper batter, is the captain of the county in red ball format.
© Cricbuzz
