“He always picks up the phone” - Suryakumar Yadav names MI teammate as his 2 am friend

Team India's T20I captain and Mumbai Indians (MI) batting star Suryakumar Yadav has named Tilak Varma as his 2 am friend. The 34-year-old revealed that the young cricketer picks up his phone call each and every time, irrespective of whether it is very early in the morning or very late in the night.

Suryakumar and Varma have been teammates at MI in the IPL for a few seasons now. They also play together for India in the T20I format. While Suryakumar made a belated international debut in March 2021, Varma made his debut for India in a T20I against West Indies at Tarouba in August 2023.

Suryakumar and his wife Devisha Shetty featured in the latest episode of the chat show 'Who's the boss', which is hosted by former cricketer Harbhajan Singh and his wife Geeta Basra, who is a former actress. During the interaction, the Indian T20I skipper opened up on various facets of his personal and professional life. Asked to pick his 2 am friend, he replied without hesitation and said:

"Tilak Varma. I have called him at 4 am as well and at 6 am as well. Whatever odd hours I have called him at, he has always picked up the phone. He’s like a hyperball of energy. Call him anytime, he always picks up the phone. He’s the go-to man."

Devisha also joined the interesting conversation and added:

"We keep telling him, take some rest. He’s always awake, anytime of the day. He’ll sleep at 5 am."

Varma (22) has played 25 T20Is for India, scoring 749 runs at an impressive average of 49.93 and a strike rate of 155.07, with the aid of two hundreds and three half-centuries. The southpaw has also been part of four ODIs in which he has scored 68 runs at an average of 22.66.

Looking at his IPL career, Varma made his debut in 2022 and has so far featured in 54 matches for the Mumbai franchise, scoring 1,499 runs at an average of 37.47 and a strike rate of 144.41, with the aid of eight half-centuries.

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Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma had contrasting IPL 2025 campaigns

Both Suryakumar and Varma were retained by the Mumbai franchise for the IPL 2025 season. However, the two players experienced contrasting fortunes with the willow. Suryakumar finished as the second-leading run-getter of the season. In 16 innings, he amassed 717 runs at an average of 65.18 and a strike rate of 167.91, with five half-centuries and a best of 73*.

On the other hand, Varma finished the season with 343 runs in 13 innings at an average of 31.18 and a strike rate of 138.30, with just two fifties to his name. He was even retired out in one of the matches.