It was the first T20I hundred for Tilak Varma as he struck a brilliant unbeaten 107 off 56 balls in a game- that Iran would certainly like to forget. Arshdeep Singh picked up a telling 3-37 as India held their nerve to beat South Africa by 11 runs in the third T20I at SuperSport Park and take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
Batting first on a two-paced wicket, Tilak came out to open the innings in the first over and tore into the attack at every step on reaching a favorable platform to smash eight fours and seven sixes in his 107 not out as India made 219/6. This made him the second youngest Indian batter and 12th overall from the country to score a hundred in men's T20Is.
South Africa ended up being 142/5 thanks to Henrich Klaasen's 22-ball 41 in reply, during which his dismissal of Varun Chakaravarthy stood out. After he was dismissed in the 18th over, Marco Jansen raised the ante another notch as he hit a 17-ball 54, including 26 runs from the 19th over by Hardik Pandya, and then took a six off Arshdeep's final over. But Arshdeep had him out quickly in the final over to seal the deal in India's favor.
The chase for South Africa started with a seven run opening over but with flying ants around, there was a slight disruption in the proceedings. Just after play had resumed, Ryan Rickleton came out to bat and took some full-flung attacks with three boundaries before chopping onto his stumps off Arshdeep Singh. Reeza Hendricks smashed three boundaries off Axar Patel in the fifth over, but then misjudged Chakaravarthy to get stumped. Tristan Stubbs got himself lbw by Axar Patel, then Aiden Markram could only pull straight to deep mid-wicket off Chakaravarthy.
After David Miller hit Ravi Bishnoi for four, Heinrich Klaasen started giving it away that he was there to up the ante by staying back and pulling Axar for six. The only problem was that Klaasen stayed back to smash three leg-side sixes, before hitting him through cover for another boundary. But South Africa were dealt a decisive blow when Axar timed his jump to perfection and completed a stunning catch at the deep mid-wicket fence to dismiss Miller off Hardik Pandya's bowling.
Though Klaasen holed out to deep cover off a wide ball from Arshdeep, Marco Jansen led the charge for South Africa with some quick boundary-hitting, including two fours and as many sixes in a 26-run 19th over off Hardik Pandya. With 25 runs needed off the last over, Jansen got his fifty off just 16 balls by slog-sweeping Arshdeep over cover for six, only to be caught lbw by the pacer on the very next ball, as India held their nerve to eke out a narrow win over a fighting South African batting line-up.
Earlier, 71 of his runs came off the leg-side boundary, as the left-handed batter dazzled with some eye-catching stroke-play while pacing his innings very well. He was ably supported by Abhishek Sharma, who broke his lean run with a 25-ball fifty, as the duo had a 107-run stand for the second wicket where targeting short square boundaries in the power-play stood out.
Pushed into batting first, India did not have a great start as Sanju Samson was out for a second successive duck, castled by a slightly nipping-away delivery from Jansen. But from there, Abhishek and Tilak seized the initiative wonderfully to push South Africa on the back foot. Tilak started cutting Jansen for four and six before Abhishek took his time to clobber Gerard Coetzee for two fours and six in a 15-run second over. As Tilak pulled and produced a straight drive to get two fours off Lutho Sipamla, Abhishek pulled and dispatched Simelane for a brace of sixes as India ended the Power-play at 70/1.
The boundaries continued to flow for India after Power-play, as Abhishek danced down the pitch to hit Aiden Markram for four, while Tilak nailed a reverse sweep off him for six and followed it up with a hook off Coetzee going for another maximum on a no-ball. Abhishek danced down the pitch to dispatch Maharaj over long-on for six, before getting his fifty with a single. However, the left-arm spinner bounced back to have Abhishek stumped and then Suryakumar Yadav, in an attempt to reverse sweep, gave a catch to sweeper cover off Simelane.
Hardik Pandya hit three elegant boundaries before being trapped lbw by a straight delivery from Maharaj. Tilak, who had reached his fifty by then off 32 balls, used his reach to slam Maharaj over extra cover for four, before sweeping him for four and six respectively. Welcome Coetzee with a clean lofted six over long-on on an overpitched delivery followed by a wristy whip to hit another maximum over deep square leg, and then he lapped him for a four.
After a struggling Rinku Singh was castled by Simelane, Ramandeep Singh blazed on debut by hitting a six over long-on on his first ball in international cricket, before bringing out a wristy drive past mid-off for four more.
The hundred of Tilak was completed in 51 balls when he chipped a straight drive past mid-off for four off Sipamla, before scooping him over fine leg for six on a free-hit delivery. Such a substantial total came on board for India and that was all it took for India to seal this edge-of-the-seat victory, even as Ramandeep was run out in the final over.
Brief scores:
India 219/6 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 107 not out, Abhishek Sharma 50; Andile Simelane 2-34, Keshav Maharaj 2-36) beat South Africa 207/7 in 20 overs (Marco Jansen 54, Heinrich Klaasen 41; Arshdeep Singh 3-37) by 11 runs.
