Tilak Verma’s maiden T20I ton helped India to secure an 11-run victory over South Africa in the third T20. Abhishek Sharma’s fiery knock of 50(25) and Verma’s ton guided India to register their highest score in T20I in South Africa.
South African skipper Aiden Markarm won the toss and elected to field first and left-arm pacer Marco Janson got the first blood for the hosts as Sanju Samson walked off for a duck on the second ball of the match. But the South African pacers can’t keep the Indian batters quiet for long as Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma smashed 70 runs in the first six overs, their second-best PowerPlay score in T20I against South Africa. Sharma smashed Gerald Coetzee for 15 runs in the second over. Both batters put the hosts on the backfoot by hammering 107 runs in 8.4 overs.
Keshav Maharaj got the big wicket of Abhishek Sharma after he completed his 50 in 23 balls. South African spinners put a break on the Indian scorecard by taking the wicket of the Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav for just 1 run. Spinners took four wickets and helped South Africa come back in the game, but Tilak Verma held his nerve and smashed a brilliant ton, remaining unbeaten on 107 off 56 balls. Hardik Pandya was dismissed after scoring 18 runs, Rinku Singh was also struggling in the middle as he scored 8 runs in 13 balls. Coetzee was smashed for 51 runs in 3 overs with an economy of 17 runs per over.
The play was suspended for 15-20 minutes as flying ants interfered with the game.
India set a massive target of 220 runs for the hosts to chase in 20 overs, South Africa got off to a decent start and there was a battle between Ryan Rickelton as he smashed Arshdeep Singh for a six but on the very next ball, he got chopped on the stumps. Arshdeep surpasses Jasprit Bumrah to become India’s joint second-leading wicket-taker(90) in men’s T20Is.
Varun Chakaravarthy again gets the wicket in his first over as Sanju Samson stumped Reeza Hendricks on 21(13). David Miller and Heinrich Klassen put up a decent partnership of 58 runs in 35 balls before Pandya got Miller’s wicket. At one point, Marco Jansen seemed poised to take South Africa over the line as he whacked 54 runs off 17 balls. Singh got 3 wickets for just 37 runs while Hardik Pandya conceded 50 runs for one wicket in his four-over spell.
India leads the four-match series by 2-1. The fourth and final T20 between South Africa and India will be played on Friday, November 15, at Wanderers Stadium.
Brief Scores: India219/6 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 Singh 3-37) by 11 runs.
Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
