SA vs IND, 4th T20I: Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson's hundreds blow South Africa away. India win four match series by 3-1 margin.
Brief Scores: SA vs IND, Fourth T20I: IND 283/1 (Sanju Samson 109*, Tilak Varma 120*, Lutho Sipamla 1/58) beat SA 148 (Tristan Stubbs 43, David Miller 36, Arshdeep Singh 3/20) by 135 runs to win the series 3-1.
Coming into the deciding contest 1-2 down, hosts South Africa were expected to put up a fight but not to be as India completely outplayed them, winning by 135 runs. Twin centuries from Sanju Samson & Tilak Varma demoralized them before a searing opening spell from Arshdeep Singh caught them off guard.Â
Talking Points: Tilak Varma’s promotion to 3 has been a revelation for India
India’s No.1 batter and skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, was the designated No.3 batter for the team coming into the series. However, after the first two games, Surya and the team management decided to give the young left-hander Tilak Varma a promotion to No.3. It worked wonders for India as the batter slammed two successive tons at that position.Â
Not just the runs but the sheer way he got those will be heartening for Team India in the long run. While the game at Centurion saw him get his century in 51 balls, he bettered it by hammering a 41-ball ton at Johannesburg. These are promising signs for India in this format.
Read More: SA vs IND, 3rd T20I: Tilak Varma's 107*, Arshdeep Singh's death bowling power India to 2-1 lead
South Africa’s fielding let them down
While the credit needs to be given to these two wonderful stroke makers for this monumental partnership, South Africa's bowling performance was below their usual standard. Adding to woes, a generally good fielding side dropped quite a few catches, which dented them badly.
Earlier in the game, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss, and the visitors batted first in this series for the fourth consecutive time. Though not at their fluent best at the start, openers Sanju Samson & Abhishek Sharma kept attacking as they brought their 50-run stand in a mere 25 balls. And at the end of the first six overs, India was 73/1 with the loss of Abhishek’s wicket.Â
Samson and Tilak Revel in Joy
Despite the opener’s departure, the carnage continued as Samson raced to his half-century in 28 balls, and India added 56 off the next four overs.
If that didn’t shatter the morale of the hosts, India made a massive 90 runs in the next five overs. Both these batters showed a fine exhibition of boundary as they registered their respective centuries in the process. Ultimately, India amassed a whopping 283 on the board for losing just the solitary wicket.
Chasing a seemingly improbable score, the Proteas got off to the worst possible start, losing four wickets in the first three overs. The home team’s top order didn’t have an answer to the left-arm pace of Arshdeep, who picked three of the wickets to fall.
The home team had a 54-ball 86-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Tristan Stubbs and David Miller, but it was too late.Â
India spinners chipped away with wickets as the hosts were skittled out.Â
Read More: SA vs IND, 2nd T20I: Chakravarthy's fifer goes in vain; SA snatch victory from jaws of defeat
Statistical Highlights of the fourth T20I between SA and IndiaÂ
India has the best W/L ratio (11.00) in T20Is this year among full member nations.
Abhishek Sharma & Sanju Samson registered the highest opening stand (73 runs) for India against South Africa in South Africa in T20Is.
Tilak Varma became the 22nd batter from India to cross the 500-run mark in T20I cricket.
The opening stand of 73 runs between Abhishek and Samson came at a run rate 12.51. It is India's fastest opening stand of above 50 runs against SA in T20Is.
Tilak Varma registered India's second-fastest fifty (off 22 balls) against SA in T20Is. The fastest one was scored by Suryakumar Yadav in 18 balls in Guwahati in 2022.
Sanju Samson registered his third T20I hundred, all of which came in his last five innings.
Tilak Varma registers the third-fastest T20I hundred for India.
It is the first time two hundreds have been scored in a single innings in a T20I match involving two full member nations of the ICC.
210* between Samson and Tilak is the highest second-wicket partnership in T20Is for the second wicket.
India registered their most sixes (23) in a single T20I innings.
India registered their second-highest team total in T20Is.
283 is also the highest T20 score ever posted in South Africa.
Tilak Varma is the fifth batter from India to score more than one T20I century and the fifth overall to score two successive centuries in T20I cricket.
SA slumped to 10-4 at one stage. This was their third-lowest total at the loss of fourth wicket in T20Is.
What’s Next
With this result, India continued their impressive run of form in T20Is in 2024. Both these sides will move to the Test format, with South Africa hosting Sri Lanka for a two-match series starting on 27 November in Durban and India playing Australia in the BGT.
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