New start! After Ruturaj Gaikwad, this Mumbai Indians star to play County Cricket

Indian cricketer Tilak Varma has been approached by Hampshire to play in the County Championship, as announced by the Hyderabad Cricket Association on Wednesday.The 22-year-old left-handed batter from Hyderabad, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, has international experience with 25 T20Is and four ODIs for India, where he scored 749 and 68 runs respectively.In the IPL, the left-handed batter has been part of MI's squad since 2022, where he was acquired for an INR 1.70 crore price tag ahead of the mega auction in the same year. He last featured for MI in Qualifier 2 as Punjab Kings beat them to book a spot in the final. His 44 off 29 was the best by a Mumbai batter on the night."The Hyderabad Cricket Association is happy to inform that Hyderabad International player Mr. N Thakur Tilak Varma has been approached by the team Hampshire County to play in the UK County Championship League," HCA stated in their release."The Hyderabad Cricket Association wishes him a great stint with Hampshire County," the statement added.A few days prior, Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad joined Yorkshire County Cricket Club and will be available for the County Championship game against Surrey at Scarborough in July. The 28-year-old missed out on a significant chunk of the IPL season owing to a fractured elbow.In his First-Class career, Varma has played 18 matches, accumulating 1,204 runs with a highest score of 121. He maintains an impressive average of 50.16, including five centuries and four half-centuries.