'It's my A game' - Tilak Varma hopes Test cricket comes his way one day

"I'm growing as a captain and enjoying it," Tilak Varma says, looking back at his recent stints as captain of the India A side and now South Zone

Having played 64 white-ball internationals for India, Tilak Varma now aspires to break into the Test side as well.

Tilak, 23, has demonstrated his red-ball chops with scores of 116*, 51* and 99 in the ongoing Duleep Trophy for South Zone. He is currently the second-highest run-getter (266 runs) in the competition behind East Zone captain Ishan Kishan (409 runs).

"Playing red-ball cricket for India is my biggest goal because I love red-ball cricket," Tilak said after stumps on day four of the Duleep Trophy final in Chennai. "I thought as a kid, I'll be playing Test cricket first and after that only white-ball cricket. I'm really keen to play red-ball cricket and let's see how it goes.RelatedShami rages against the dying of the light, seam still bolt upright

East bat on with one hand on the Duleep Trophy

"I wouldn't necessarily say it [red-ball] cricket comes naturally. But I began my professional journey in red-ball cricket and played for many years with the red ball. Over the past few seasons, I've played a lot of white-ball cricket, but red ball remains my favourite format - it's my A game."

In the ongoing Duleep final on a red-soil Chepauk pitch, Tilak played out 211 balls after negotiating 250 balls in his previous match, the Duleep semi-final against North Zone in Bengaluru. Tilak has faced 250 or more deliveries in an innings only twice in his first-class career - in July 2025 for Hampshire in county cricket and then in the game against North Zone.

"It's an important knock for me, but at the same point, I was only focused on what the team needed," Tilak said of his approach. "I could have taken more chances before itself, but the plan was simply to take it session-by-session.

"Cricket is a funny game - if you can bat out a session and if some other batsman stays with me, I was confident we could take it session-by-session and push for a draw. [But] Unfortunately, we lost wickets, and the result went in their [East's] favour."Tilak Varma has been in rich form with the bat in the Duleep Trophy•Vedhan M

As things stand, after putting up 708 runs in their first innings, East bowled South out for 336 for a 372-run lead and have since batted again and gotten to 212 for 5, an overall lead of 584. With first-innings lead the deciding factor in the absence of an outright result, South are out of the contest.

Tilak felt his recent leadership stints, including at India A in the one-dayers in Sri Lanka recently, have helped him grow as a player and connect with the fringe players in the group. Tilak is also India's vice-captain in T20Is.

"There has been a lot of learnings. If you see, there are youngsters [in the South Zone squad] and also India A, we're a young side as well," Tilak said. "One game we lost there and again we got back. You have great talent in the team and when you have that talent and eagerness to win, then it's easier as a captain to win tournaments. So, captaining India A, domestic and again here, there are many [positives] and I'm growing as a captain and enjoying it.

"Sometimes, conditions won't always be in your favour, so it's about how you use your players as a captain. One of the lessons I've learned is the importance of understanding your players off the field. When you spend time with your team-mates and know how they think, you can know who can be your [go-to] player under pressure."