Watch cricket video highlights of India tour of South Africa 2024. Third Twenty/20 between South Africa and India. Venue of the match will be Centurion.
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In just six days, Tilak Varma became India’s second centurion and made sure they would win the four-match Twenty20 International series. With the last game scheduled for Friday, they have a 2-1 lead, leaving the hosts with no choice but to draw. After defeating Ireland 2–0 in August 2022, South Africa has lost five and drawn two bilateral T20I series and has not won one since. Given that they advanced to this year’s T20 World Cup final and that the next major tournament is only 15 months away, South Africa would not be overly concerned about it.
However, after they gave up a lot and faltered in the pursuit for the second time in the series, there will be concerns about their depth and some of their tactics. Without Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and Anrich Nortje, South Africa’s seam strength is, predictably, inexperienced. At Supersport Park, it was evident in a disorganized performance that featured three no-balls and ten wides. Those figures are insignificant compared to Tilak’s, who took just 51 balls to reach his hundred at the age of 22, making him India’s second youngest centurion behind Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Together with Abhishek Sharma, he shared a 107-run second-wicket partnership. Tilak also contributed 45 to a 58-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rinku Singh. Tilak made sure they had plenty even though India was expected to reach a total of more than 240 after reaching 100 in the ninth over. Early on, South Africa lags behind with an asking rate of 11. By the end of the powerplay, they required nearly 12 runs each over, and in the final five, they required up to 17 runs per over.
Heinrich Klassen and David Miller, their two best batsmen, were at the crease at that point, and they had scored 58 off 35 balls as a partnership. Miller was forced to leave after Axar Patel perfectly timed his jump at the deep mid-wicket boundary, evoking memories of Suryakumar Yadav’s catch on the long-off boundary during the June T20 World Cup final. Marco Jansen made sure the outcome pleased South Africa by keeping them in it until the very last over. In order to threaten a coup, he blasted four fours and five sixes while three down the field, scoring his first T20I half-century.
However, South Africa had too much work ahead of them. With three balls remaining in the innings and eighteen runs remaining, Jansen was out LBW to Arshdeep Singh. South Africa suffered an 11-run defeat. Jansen’s second ball scythed through Sanju Samson to give South Africa a flawless start. With his last four T20I scores being 111, 107, 0, and 0, Samson’s all-or-bust period persisted, but India did not dwell on it for too long. With astounding results, they moved Tilak Varma up to number three.
He hammered Jansen over third for six after hitting the second ball he faced through backward point for four. After being dismissed for single-figure scores at both coastal locations, Abhishek Sharma promptly made amends by demonstrating his entire repertoire by taking 14 runs off Gerald Coetzee’s opening over. Abhishek went over the covers after going through midwicket and over point. Coetzee was quickly replaced by Jansen by Andile Simelane, who took the brunt of Abhishek’s violence, and Lutho Sipamla by Tilak, who drew him squarely behind.
India was dominating the powerplay as he hit consecutive sixes to opposing corners of the field. After six overs, they were 70 for 1, and South Africa had not yet used the spinners. When Abhishek hit Keshav Maharaj over long-on, India reached 100 in nine overs, but South Africa’s seasoned left-arm spinner got the final laugh. After three balls, he pulled a delivery past Abhishek, who was stumped after missing his attempt to send it through the leg side.
Suryakumar Yadav was tempted to cut when Andile Simelane gave him width in the following over, but the Indian captain was only able to slice it to Jansen at deep point. Both of Simelane’s recent international wickets have come from Suryakumar. Maharaj was successfully kept on for a third over despite his second over costing ten runs. Hardik Pandya was hit on the pack pad after missing a sweep and was declared leg before wicket. South Africa rallied after India lost 3 for 25 in 26 balls.
Despite Maharaj’s reputation for slowing things down, Tilak had had enough by his final over. Maharaj concluded with 36 off his four overs after he made good use of his crease to go 4-6-4 over extra cover, deep square leg, and deep mid-wicket. The warning shot was that. In his subsequent over, which also had three wides, Coetzee was completely thrashed by Tilak, who found both the long and short boundaries. Rinku Singh was dismissed by a Simelane yorker in the eighteenth over, and Marco Jansen bowled a 17th over without a boundary.
Tilak, however, was unstoppable at that point. When he smoked Sipamla past mid-off for his seventh four, he reached his hundred. Tilak finished undefeated at 107 after hitting one more four to go with his seven sixes. Although we’ve had bees at the Wanderers, this is the first time flying ants have halted play, in the opinion of this amateur historian. What, you ask? You probably recognize them, even if you call them Patingas, Parwana, Eeyal, or Eesal. There were so many of them at SuperSport Park that the umpires were worried they would fly into the players’ eyes.
They arrive before the rain, are drawn to light, and lose their wings when they land. After an over of South Africa’s chase, the players were removed, and SuperSport Park’s light pylon was turned off in the hopes that the flying ants would find another location to gather. They did so after twenty-eight minutes, and play could restart without any overs being lost. As they say, “it’s wild out in Africa,” and it was. Put aside all of the historical accounts of spinners having difficulty on the Highveld and focus only on Varun Chakravarthy.
With twice as many wickets as his closest opponent, he entered this game as the series’ top wicket-taker. His most unplayable ball added another to his record. Reeza Hendricks was done for the second time, and South Africa was unaware of his Google. He moved toward Varun, slogged frantically, missed, and was unable to continue. With a score of 55 for 2, South Africa concluded the powerplay. When Aiden Markram smacked Varun for two sixes over long-on in his third over, South Africa may have believed they had the better of him, but the reverse was true.
Markram prolonged the South African captain’s wretched run by hitting the final ball straight to Ramandeep Singh when he might have sent it away over mid-wicket. He has not reached 30 in his last 12 innings and has gone 27 innings without a T20I half-century. After hitting Varun for three consecutive sixes, including the game’s longest at 109 metres, in an over that cost 23, Heinrich Klaasen was the only player who could claim some bragging rights.
Despite finishing with his most costly T20I analysis, Varun made two significant discoveries, and ultimately, that’s all that matters. Despite Jansen’s batting prowess, South Africa needed 86 runs from the final five overs, but it was too much to ask.
