Tilak Varma shared his aspirations of playing Test cricket for India after he led the South Zone to the final of the Duleep Trophy 2026. South Africa defeated North Zone by 7 wickets to enter the summit clash, where they will clash with East Zone from September 6 in Chennai.
North Zone made 195 after choosing to bat first, with Qamran Iqbal making 76 and captain Kanhaiya Wadhawan scoring 35, while Vidwath Kaverappa picked four wickets for South Zone. Then Tilak Varma played a captain’s knock of 116*, and Shreyas Gopal’s 87 took South Zone to 312 runs.
North Zone managed 297 in the second innings, with Sanat Sangwan (76), Ayush Doseja (52), and Anshul Kamboj (36) being the lead scorers. MD Nideesh picked 5/56, as the South Zone was asked to make 181 runs. Tilak Varma once again led from the front, scoring 51*, as the South Zone won the game with ease.
The 23-year-old, who serves as India's vice-captain in T20Is, claimed that his efforts were motivated by his want to get called up to the Test.
“I have always loved to play red-ball cricket, and I have never dreamt of playing white-ball formats for India, but that's God's plan. I have debuted in T20s and ODIs for India, but my strength has always been red-ball cricket,” Tilak said after the match as per Times of India.
Over the past three years, Tilak has made 53 T20I and five ODI appearances for India, but he has maintained that his success in white-ball cricket has never come at the expense of his aspirations in red-ball cricket.
“I have worked hard; no one has seen it, maybe since I was 10 years old, and now I am 23. I got selected to white-ball formats due to the IPL. But before that I have ground a lot in red-ball cricket. So, it's always my strength, and I love playing Test cricket, something that's always there in my blood,” he added.
Tilak highlighted how playing for India has limited his opportunities in red-ball cricket in domestic cricket and how he has been trying to play as many Ranji Trophy matches as possible.
“For my country, right now, I am available for T20s and ODIs, but I love to play red-ball cricket. But I don't have much time to play domestic red-ball cricket because in the last three or four years I have been trying to play the Ranji Trophy. But I am not getting the time because I have an international schedule. So, I am trying to play as much red-ball cricket because I want to score there and come to the Indian side as well,” Varma added.
Tilak Varma will now be in action when India takes on Afghanistan in three T20Is starting September 13 and the Asian Games 2026.
