Mumbai Indians (MI) are currently tussling for a place in the IPL 2025 playoffs, and batter Tilak Varma got his competitive juices flowing even more with a pickleball game against Telugu film star Vijay Deverakonda.
At the start of their match, Deverakonda announced that he'd wear a Mumbai Indians jersey if he lost the best-of-three contest. The games, which also featured Raj Bawa as Varma's team-mate, were hard-fought, with Varma often looking like he was digging out yorkers. But eventually, Deverakonda and his partner beat the cricketers 2-1.
His demand for the losing team was to recreate a dance for the song "Hridayam Lopala" from his new movie Kingdom, set to release at the end of this month.
After 12 matches, MI are in fourth place in the points table, with 14 points, behind table leaders Gujarat Titans (GT), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS). On Tuesday, May 6, they lost a thriller against GT after captain Hardik Pandya failed to effect a run-out off the final ball. To make matters worse, the team was fined for their slow over rate.
MI have two league games remaining, against PBKS on May 11 and against Delhi Capitals (DC) on May 15. Wins in their last two matches will ensure MI a place in the playoffs, whereas two defeats will see them eliminated.
In nine innings this season, Varma has scored 246 runs at a strike rate of 139, with two fifties. His team-mate Suryakumar Yadav is currently the season's leading run-scorer, with 510 runs at a strike rate of 170.56.