India batter Varma signs four-game Hampshire deal

Tilak Varma has played for India in four One-Day internationals and 25 T20 games

Hampshire have signed India white-ball batter Tilak Varma on a short-term deal for four County Championship matches.

Varma has made an outstanding start to his international T20 career, hitting 749 runs in 25 games with an average of 49.93 and a strike rate of 155.

The 22-year-old left-hander has two centuries and three half-centuries in the format and has scored nearly 1,500 runs in 54 innings in the Indian Premier League.

He will be available from 22 June until 1 August for games at Essex, at home to Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire and the return against the Pears at New Road at the end of July.

Varma averages 50 in first-class cricket with five hundreds and four half-centuries from 18 matches.

"It's fantastic to have Tilak available for the next four County Championship matches," director of cricket Giles White said.

"He's an exciting talent who has already made a big impact on the international stage and in the IPL, and we look forward to seeing what he can do for Hampshire this summer."

After the first batch of seven County Championship matches, Hampshire are seventh in the Division One table, with two wins, two defeats and three draws.

Only bottom side Worcestershire (three) have picked up fewer than Hampshire's six batting points in those games.