Tilak Varma has 1,858 runs in 68 IPL matches, but that number hides the real story: Mumbai Indians have finished bottom of the table twice since his debut, and he is still one of the few things that has worked for them. This is his full season-by-season record, the hundred against Gujarat Titans that changed his profile, where he sits among IPL’s emerging batters, and an honest read on a stop-start 2026. That century in May put him on the small list of players who have gone past three figures in the format.
Quick Answer – Tilak Varma IPL Career
Tilak Varma has scored 1,858 runs in 68 IPL matches at an average of 35.73 and a strike rate of 144.25, with 1 century and 10 fifties since his 2022 debut. He has yet to win an IPL title, having played his entire career for Mumbai Indians. The season-by-season breakdown below shows exactly where those runs came from and where they dried up.
हिन्दी: तिलक वर्मा ने 2026 में गुजरात टाइटंस के खिलाफ अपना पहला आईपीएल शतक जड़ा, जो मुंबई इंडियंस के सबसे तेज़ शतक की बराबरी करता है।
Stats verified via ESPNcricinfo and the official IPL site, updated 5 July 2026.
Tilak Varma’s IPL Career Journey
Mumbai Indians picked Varma for 1.70 crore at the 2022 mega auction, well above his 20 lakh base price, and he repaid that straight away with 397 runs in his debut season, the second-most by any MI batter that year even as the franchise finished bottom of the table. A maiden fifty against Rajasthan Royals in only his second game announced him. A year later he sharpened into a genuine finisher, striking at 164.11 for 343 runs, including an unbeaten 84 off 46 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore that remained his career-best score for three seasons and helped MI reach the playoffs.
The 2024 season was his best by volume, 416 runs, even as Mumbai finished last again under new captain Hardik Pandya. 2025 brought MI back to the playoffs, and Varma played his part with a rapid 25 off 11 in the Eliminator win over Gujarat Titans, before a fighting 44 in the Qualifier 2 loss to Punjab Kings ended the run. Retained for 8 crore ahead of that season, he walked into 2026 as a senior pillar of the Wankhede home line-up rather than a promising find.
Tilak Varma Season-by-Season IPL Stats
The shape is unusual for a young player: his best strike-rate season came second, not last, and his highest single-season aggregate (416) is now two years old rather than his most recent one.
| Season | Team | Matches | Runs | Average | SR | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | MI | 14 | 397 | 36.09 | 131.02 | 61 |
| 2023 | MI | 11 | 343 | 42.88 | 164.11 | 84* |
| 2024 | MI | 13 | 416 | 41.60 | 149.64 | 65 |
| 2025 | MI | 16 | 343 | 31.18 | 138.31 | 59 |
| 2026 | MI | 14 | 359 | 29.92 | 143.60 | 101* |
| Career | MI | 68 | 1,858 | 35.73 | 144.25 | 101* |
Tilak Varma’s Best IPL Season
By pure volume, 2024 is the clear answer. Varma scored 416 runs in 13 matches at an average of 41.60 and a strike rate of 149.64, with three fifties, the most productive year of his career even as Mumbai Indians finished bottom of the table for the second time in three seasons under a new captain. It was the first time he crossed 400 in a single edition, and he did it as MI’s second-highest run scorer that year.
The signature knock came on 22 April 2024 against Rajasthan Royals, a 65 off 45 balls that anchored the innings after an early wobble. It is a fair counter-argument that 2023 was the better season by rate, at 164.11, and that 2026 mattered more for what it unlocked. But for pure weight of runs delivered across a full campaign, 2024 still stands alone.
Where Tilak Varma Ranks Among IPL’s Greats
By raw volume, 1,858 runs ranks nowhere near the league’s best, and it never will if measured the way an opener’s tally is measured. Varma bats at four or five as a finisher, not at the top of the order collecting 130 balls of runway every innings, and he has done it for a team that has finished bottom of the table twice in his five seasons, without the batting depth around him that a Kohli or a Gill gets to work with. The number that matters more than the aggregate is his age: 23, with a maiden century, an Asia Cup final matchwinning innings and a T20 World Cup medal already on the shelf. Where he lands among the league’s genuine greats, and whether he ever closes on the top of the six-hitting charts, will be decided in the next five seasons, not the last five.
2022 – The Debut Season
- Matches: 14, all 14 games played
- Runs: 397 at an average of 36.09
- Strike rate: 131.02
- Standing: promising find in a last-placed side
2026 – This Season
- Matches: 14, MI eliminated after 14 games
- Runs: 359 at an average of 29.92
- Strike rate: 143.60, plus a maiden century
- Standing: senior batter, India T20I vice-captain
IPL Records and Milestones Held by Tilak Varma
- His unbeaten 101 off 45 balls against Gujarat Titans in 2026 equalled the record for Mumbai Indians’ fastest century, a mark set by Sanath Jayasuriya in the tournament’s inaugural 2008 season.
- It was his maiden IPL century after four seasons averaging between 31 and 43 without one.
- 91 IPL sixes and 143 fours across five seasons, all scored for Mumbai Indians.
- Current vice-captain of India’s men’s T20I team, a role he holds alongside his IPL commitments.
- Player of the Match in the 2025 Asia Cup final, an unbeaten 69 that helped India win the title, and part of India’s 2026 T20 World Cup winning squad.
Tilak Varma in IPL 2026 and Recent Form
IPL 2026 was Mumbai’s worst kind of season to build a personal case in. The franchise won only 4 of 14 games and was the first team eliminated from the playoff race, on 10 May, a match in which Varma still top-scored with 57 as MI folded around him. His maiden century, 101 not out against Gujarat Titans, was the season’s high point and the one result that genuinely went Mumbai’s way in the chase that followed.
The rest of the campaign was uneven. He followed a rapid unbeaten 75 off 33 against Punjab Kings with a laboured 20 off 32 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders, the slowest 30-plus-ball IPL innings by anyone in 14 years, before closing the season with 3 off 7 in the final defeat to Rajasthan Royals. See the full picture in the IPL 2026 season review.
Varma is the rare young Indian batter whose value shows up more in what has gone wrong around him than in his own numbers. Two bottom-table finishes, a captaincy change, and he is still the one middle-order piece Mumbai has never seriously considered replacing. My honest read is that the 2026 century did not create his ceiling, it just made the rest of the country notice a ceiling that was already there. The honest caveat is that MI still have not settled where he bats best, shuffling him between four and five depending on who else is in form, and that indecision costs him the settled role a player of his standing deserves. If you want to see exactly how his numbers stack up against a specific peer, IPL Daily’s player comparison tool lets you build that side-by-side yourself. For now, he is Mumbai’s answer to a middle-order problem, not yet the reason they win a title.
Frequently Asked Questions – Tilak Varma IPL Stats
How many runs has Tilak Varma scored in IPL?
Tilak Varma has scored 1,858 runs in 68 IPL matches at an average of 35.73 and a strike rate of 144.25, all for Mumbai Indians since his 2022 debut. He has 1 century and 10 fifties, with 2024 his best season by volume at 416 runs.
What is Tilak Varma’s highest score in IPL?
His highest IPL score is 101 not out, off 45 balls against Gujarat Titans in 2026, his maiden IPL century. It equalled the record for Mumbai Indians’ fastest hundred, set by Sanath Jayasuriya in the tournament’s first season.
Why has Mumbai Indians never dropped Tilak Varma despite two bottom-table finishes?
Varma has been one of the few consistent performers through Mumbai’s worst seasons, passing 340 runs in four of his five seasons. Coaches have repeatedly leaned on his composure in the middle order even in years his own average has dipped.
What was Tilak Varma’s best IPL season?
By runs, it was 2024, when he scored 416 in 13 matches at an average of 41.60. By strike rate, 2023 was faster at 164.11. His 2026 season added the milestone the other two lacked, a maiden IPL century.
Has Tilak Varma won an IPL title?
No. Mumbai Indians have not won the IPL since 2020, two years before Varma’s debut. His closest brush with a final was the 2025 Eliminator win over Gujarat Titans, before Mumbai lost Qualifier 2 to Punjab Kings.
Will Tilak Varma captain India one day?
He is already India’s T20I vice-captain, and his match-winning innings in the 2025 Asia Cup final fuelled that talk further. Nothing is confirmed, but selectors have handed him responsibility earlier than most batters his age.
The Bottom Line
Tilak Varma’s 1,858 IPL runs will keep climbing, but the number was never really the point. He has been Mumbai Indians’ steadiest middle-order presence through two bottom-table finishes and a captaincy change, and his 2026 century against Gujarat Titans finally gave the rest of the country a reason to watch closely. He is not yet among the league’s proven greats, and MI still have not solved his best batting position. At 23, with an India vice-captaincy and a World Cup medal already banked, the more interesting seasons are still ahead of him.
