Tilak Varma Eyes Return Before Fourth T20I After Successful Recovery: Report

Tilak Varma is steadily moving towards full fitness and will report to the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru on Tuesday, with the T20 World Cup less than three weeks away. The left-hander is recovering

from surgery for testicular torsion and is set to undergo a detailed fitness evaluation before being cleared to resume competitive cricket.

According to a report in The Times of India, Tilak is currently pain-free and will undergo physical assessments and workload monitoring at the CoE as part of the Return to Play protocol.

As a result, he will miss the first three T20Is against New Zealand, which begin on Wednesday, but has not been ruled out of the remainder of the five-match series.

Providing an update on his recovery, a source told The Times of India, "If everything goes well, he will be fit before the fourth T20I on January 28 in Vishakhapatnam. He has resumed physical training and, in a day or two, will start batting and other skill-based activities. "

Tilak's injury setback occurred during the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Rajkot, where he was leading Hyderabad. After scoring a fine 109 against Chandigarh on January 3 and following it up with 34 against Bengal three days later, he experienced discomfort and was advised to undergo scans, which eventually led to surgery.

In Tilak's absence, India have brought in Shreyas Iyer for the opening three T20Is. The ODI vice-captain and Punjab Kings skipper returns to the T20I fold after more than a year, having last played the format in December 2023 against Australia. Iyer had missed a significant chunk of T20 cricket due to a spleen injury but made his comeback during the Vijay Hazare Trophy before featuring in the ODI series against New Zealand.

Over the past year, Tilak has cemented his place in India's T20I plans. In 2025, he scored 567 runs in 18 innings at an impressive average of 47.25, underlining his importance as India fine-tune their squad ahead of the T20 World Cup.