Johannesburg: A brilliant three-fer by left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh after twin centuries by Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma, who shared a 210-run partnership — the highest for any wicket, helped India thrash South Africa by 135 runs in a record-breaking performance at The Wanderers Stadium here on Friday. With this India won the four-match series 3-1 and maintained their dominant run since the T20 World Cup, winning 24 out of the 26 T20Is they have played this year.
Arshdeep Singh claimed three for 20 to destroy the South Africa top-order after Samson had hammered an unbeaten 109 off 56 balls and Tilak Varma blazed to an unbeaten 120 from a mere 47 balls to become only the second Indian to score back-to-back centuries in T20Is and helped India post a mammoth 283/1 in 20 overs, the highest score ever in T20I match involving two full members.
With the ball darting around under the lights, Arshdeep used the conditions beautifully to claim three wickets in his first two overs, including two off successive balls in the third over. He cleaned up Reza Hendricks (0) with the third ball of his opening over and then sent back Aiden Markram (8) and Heinrich Klaasen (0) in his second over and through David Miller prevented a hat-trick, the damage was done. In between Hardik Pandya induced an edge behind off Ryan Rickelton (1) and India had the South Africans on the ropes at four down for 10 runs.
Tristian Stubbs struck 43 off 29 balls, studded with three boundaries and two sixes while Miller blasted 36 off 27 balls to give the hosts some hopes as they raised 86 runs for the fifth wicket partnership. They struck some huge sixes off Ramandeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy but the mystery spinner triggered another collapse after he sent back Miller when he tried to slam his fourth six.
Chakravarthy, who had claimed a fifer in the second T20I, claimed 2-42 while Axar Patel 2-6 as South Africa were bowled out for 148 in 18.2 overs as India dominated the one-sided match, winning by 135 runs and recorded their biggest-ever T20I victory against South Africa. Chakravarthy ended up the most successful bowler in the series with 12 wickets. India thus won the series 3-1, excelling with the bat and ball in this record-breaking match and series. Samson and Tilak Varma made it to the record books by hitting back-to-back centuries. Samson became the third Indian batter to score three centuries in T20Is.
On Friday after skipper Suryakumar Yadav elected to bat first, Samson welcomed Gerald Coetzee with a six and four in the second over to get the ball rolling for India. He continued building his innings with another six and four off Lutho Sipamla in the fourth over.
Abhishek Sharma (36) began the carnage in the fifth over when he smashed 24 runs off Andile Similane’s first over. The young left-handed batter smashed the first ball out of the park and was followed by a wide, six, and a four. The Proteas suffered a setback as Coetzee pulled up ahead of the fifth over and was forced to walk out of the ground with an injury. Sharma tried to utilize the final over of the Power-play and tried to charge down off Sipamla’s bowling but ended up nicking it behind Heinrich Klaasen.
India reached 73/1 at the end of the Power-play and Tilak Varma, who was moved up the order in the third T20I, picked up where he left off in the previous game.
Both Tilak and Sanju continued dealing in boundaries as the former hit two consecutive sixes off Keshav Maharaj to accumulate 19 in the over and Samson swiftly replied as he struck two sixes off Tristian Stubbs’ opening two deliveries in an over that saw 24 being conceded. The duo continued with the rampage and took India to their second-highest score in 10 overs at 129/1, the highest being India’s recent win over Bangladesh. They also continued clearing the boundaries.
There was no stopping the duo, as it scored 57 runs between the 12th and 14th overs, which forced captain Aiden Markram to bring Gerald Coetzee back on the pitch. It nearly paid off. After being hit for a six each by the duo, Tilak’s pull shot went high in the air, and a diving Maharaj could not get there in time.
Samson and Varma raced to their centuries from thereon, reaching the milestone in 51 and 41 balls respectively. The duo ended the night with a huge partnership of 210 runs and powered India to 283/1 against South Africa, the highest-ever total at the Wanderers Stadium.
Brief scores:
India 283/1 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 109 not out, Abhishek Sharma 36, Tilak Varma 120 not out; Lutho Sipamla 1-58) beat South Africa 148 all out in 18.2 overs (Tristan Stubbs 43, David Miller 36, Marco Jansen 29 not out; Arshdeep Singh 3-20, Varun Chakravarthy 2-42, Axar Patel 2-6) by 135 runs.
