SOUTH AFRICA VS INDIA, 3RD T20I,CENTURION:Tilak Varma’s 107* Pushed India’s 2-1 Lead Against South Africa In 3rd T20I .
South Africa vs India, 3rd T20I – SuperSport Park, Centurion: India beat South Africa by 11 runs. The win helped the visitors gain a 2-1 lead in the four-match series. India, after winning the toss and opting to bat first, put a huge total of 219 for 6 on the board on the back of Tilak Varma’s maiden T20I century. India were in a dominant position after the Sanshuman Samson’s wicket fell on just the second ball of the innings as Tilak Mills sent overseas and Abhishek Sharma (50 off 25) put up an impressive partnership of 107 runs. Leaving all the other Indian batters, Tilak called in to dig his heels and ended up scoring a century for himself off 51 balls. Not out on 107 off 56 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes. The Proteas, in response, could manage just 208 for 7. Tilak Varma’s 107* Pushed India’s 2-1 Lead Against South Africa In 3rd T20I .
TOSS-
South Africa won toss and decided to bowl .
PLAYING SQUAD-
South Africa Squad:
Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj ,Lutho Sipamla
India Squad:
Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakaravarthy
INDIA-
However, Jansen and South Africa’s initial glee at having castled Sanju Samson for a first-ball duck in the opening over was short-lived again as Tilak, lettered in No.3 ahead of captain Surya Kumar Yadav, laid waste to the early overs along with fellow left-hander Abhishek Sharma Less than two balls after the fall of Samson, Tilak began to throw his bat around and was brilliant with the feet during his innings. In the second over, Abhishek went after Gerald Coetzee and picked 15. Only 15 came off the next two overs before both launched onto Andile Simelane, taking 18 from the fifth over. With the square boundaries again on the smaller side, both batters made the most of it to help India get to 70/1 in first six overs — India’s second best Power Play score vs South Africa in T20Is.
Once the fields opened up, though, Tilak and Abhishek would sing similar heavy metal songs, even forcing Coetzee to go full and wide from around the stumps. He then proceeded to give away a couple of wides and was subsequently tonked for a six off deep square leg, following a no-ball. Aiden Markram had another dear over just before introducing his left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who was greeted with a six over long on from Abhishek. He made a 50 in 23 balls, only to be stumped in the same over giving South Africa a sigh of relief.
In the very next over, dragging back, Surya Kumar Yadav fell for 1 — but India ended the first business end with 110/3. With Hardik, Tilak raised his fifty in 32 balls and unfurled his hitting further as South Africa lost three more wickets. While Hardik was dismissed for 18 and Rinku Singh struggled to an 8 off 13, Tilak stayed at it with the bat nonetheless. Hit a four, two sixes, another four off Maharaj: 4,6,4 in the latter’s ninth over for 16 and followed that with back-to-back six and a fourth-boundary stroke by smashing Coetzee for 21. The pacer ended his spell with figures of 0/51 in 3 overs.
Ramandeep Singh who was playing his first T20I, opened with a six over the long-on fence. The 19-run over from Lutho Sipamla that brought India past the 200-run mark . Tilak had his century in the penultimate over from Lutho Sipamla’s Over . Jansen then bowled a phenomenal 20th over for just four runs while India finished at 219/6.
SOUTH AFRICA-
Flight of ants led to an absurd suspension in play lasting around 20 minutes. The players left the field and the super sopper was utilized to clear it. There was a blaze from both ends when play resumed, with Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya targeted by Ryan Rickleton — dispatched to either end once he went too full or short — but in truth the batters struggled with some deliveries that were pitched up. During one of these many mini-battles, it was Arshdeep who came out on top when Ryan Rickleton played a delivery from him back onto his stumps. While Hendricks took South Africa ahead he was stumped by Varun CV as soon as the last over of Power Play ended.
Markram’s woes in the format in 2024 persisted, unfazed as he was unable to access anything lateral against the spinners with snippets coming through the offside were mostly neutralized by area locks deployed via tight fields and regular chokes. Tristan Stubbs also got bogged down after hitting a couple of boundaries at the start and eventually ended up trying to break the shackles with a reverse sweep off Axar Patel, which led to his downfall. Markram finally made temporary relief with two 6’s off Varun, but then hit another down Ramandeep throat at deep mid-wicket in that over to leave SA staggering at 84/4 after 10 overs.
As it looked like India were taking away the game, Klaasen did what he does best. He smashed Varun CV thrice over the boundary and then added a cover drive for good measure – but in between, Surya kumar put him down at cover – all this within one over. However, at the other end David Miller was struggling and fell exactly when it looked like he had middled an expansive pull shot to deep square leg only for Axar to time his jump exquisitely to take a catch.
Ravi Bishnoi conceded couple of big-sixes to Jansen but South Africa were still out of reach to victorious with 59 off 18. Klaasen fell to Arshdeep in a brilliant 18th over where he went for only 8 runs while claiming the wicket, taking away whatever little hope remained of the hosts chasing down the target. Jansen though, sought to keep the chase alive by tonking 26 off Hardik in the penultimate over – including three fours and couple sixes. Jansen then hit another six in the last over to reduce 25 off 6 to 18 off the final four, but fell for a remarkable 54 off just 17 balls – from the next ball. It was Arshdeep’s 90th T20I wicket – eclipsing Jasprit Bumrah in the process and now joint-second (level with Bhuvneshwar Kumar) on the all-time list for India in the format. He then finished off the completion of the over to leave South Africa short.
BRIEF SCORES-
India: 219/6 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 107*, Abhishek Sharma 50; Keshav Maharaj 2-36) beat South Africa:208/7 in 20 overs (Marco Jansen 54, Heinrich Klaasen 41; Arshdeep Singh3-37) by 11 runs .