Tilak Varma was not in such a good form before he walked to the crease today. Pressure had been building around him for weeks after a rough start to the season. But the Mumbai Indians’ win over the Gujarat Titans changed everything.
Tilak finally bagged his first-ever Player of the Match award in the IPL after smashing an unbeaten 101 runs from just 45 balls. He earned this major honour during the Mumbai Indians’ 99-run victory over the Titans.
He joined the Mumbai squad in 2022 after the franchise bought him for ₹1.7 crore at the mega-auction. He played nearly 60 IPL matches before this game without ever winning a POTM trophy. Fans often noticed that many of his best batting performances happened in games where Mumbai ended up losing.
He had scored only 43 runs across his first five innings of the season. The team had managed just one win from their first 5 matches and sat near the bottom of the points table.
The match situation looked grim when Tilak walked out to bat at number five. Kagiso Rabada ripped through the top order during an early collapse. Tilak started very cautiously and scored just 19 runs off 22 balls by the 14th over mark.
After the strategic timeout, the momentum completely changed. Tilak scored 26 runs off one over. He raced to his fifty off 33 balls and reached his century with a boundary on the very last ball of the innings. He finished with 101 not out, hitting 8 fours and 7 sixes with a strike rate of 224.44.
This knock marked his maiden IPL century. He now joins an elite list of Mumbai Indians centurions like Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock.
FIRST POTM AWARD FOR STARBOY TILAK VARMA FOR MUMBAI INDIANS 💙 pic.twitter.com/tTRRUkjVrc
— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) April 20, 2026
Ashwani Kumar's Return Completes Mumbai Indians' Perfect Night
The Mumbai Indians bowlers backed up Tilak’s innings with a dominant performance. GT fell apart under the scoreboard pressure and were bowled out for just 100 runs in 15.5 overs.
Ashwani Kumar became the star of the second innings. The team management had ignored the pacer in recent games while giving chances to Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar. He finally returned to the playing eleven for this match and delivered a brilliant 4/24 spell. He removed Shubman Gill for 14, Rahul Tewatia for 8, Shahrukh Khan for 17, and Rashid Khan for 4.
Jasprit Bumrah took his first wicket of this season and removed Sai Sudharsan for a golden duck. Mitchell Santner also bowled well and picked up two wickets. This result means a lot for a franchise seeking a sixth title.
