Duleep Trophy 2026: Tilak Varma slams his eighth First-Class ton
What's the story
South Zone captain Tilak Varma brought up his eighth First-Class century in the ongoing Duleep Trophy semi-final in Bengaluru. Tilak rescued South Zone from a precarious 80/5 in response to North Zone's 195. He added an innings-defining 175-run stand with Shreyas Gopal, who departed on 88. Tilak reached three figures before stumps on Day 2, as South Zone were 285/9.
Knock
Ton-up Tilak, Gopal rescue South Zone
Arshdeep Singh, Anshul Kamboj, and Gurnoor Brar kept South Zone on the back foot in the first 20 overs. They were 39/2 in 17.2 overs when Tilak came in.
While Tilak held his fort, South Zone were reduced to 80/5 in 30.4 overs. For the next 50-plus overs, Tilak and Gopal showed incredible resilience.
While Gopal departed for 88 (169), Tilak completed his ton off 219 balls.
Numbers
A look at his journey
According to Cricinfo, Tilak raced to his eighth century in First-Class cricket. His tally also includes five half-centuries, making his conversion outstanding.
With his latest knock, the 23-year-old completed 1,600 runs in First-Class cricket. Across 24 red-ball games (36 innings), he averages over 50.
Tilak, India's vice-captain in T20Is, is yet to make his Test debut.