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Tilak Verma’s brilliant century, Abhishek Sharma’s impressive half-century and Arshdeep’s bowling helped India beat South Africa by 11 runs in the 3rd T20I at Centurion yesterday (Nov. 13).
Batting first, the Indian team scored 219 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. Set a target of 220 runs, the South African team scored 208 runs for the loss of 7 wickets and lost by 11 runs.
Maximum score
In the last T20 World Cup in 2007, India scored 218 runs against England at this Centurion Stadium. This was the highest score of the Indian team at this ground. The Indian team broke it after 17 years in this game.
With this win, the Indian team leads the 4-match series by 2-1.
Failure continues
South Africa have not won any T20I series at home since 2022.
Even if South Africa win the last match, they cannot win the T20 series unless the series is tied. Since 2022, South Africa have lost 5 T20I series and drawn 2 series. But, not yet won.
Thilak is the man of the match
At the Century Stadium, Tilak Verma became the 12th Indian batsman to score a T20I century. He scored a fifty off 32 balls and his maiden century off 51 balls with an unbeaten 107 runs (7 sixes, 8 fours) and was adjudged man of the match.
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The Indian team has scored more than 200 runs in T20Is for the 8th time in this calendar year. The Indian team has achieved a record that no other team has achieved in a calendar year so far.
Apart from that, it is noteworthy that 5 players in a team in a calendar year Rohit Sharma(121), Abhishek Sharma(100), Samson(111, 107) and Tilak Verma(107) have scored centuries in international T20 competition.
After Jaiswal, Tilak Verma became the second Indian batsman to score a century in T20 at a young age. Thilak Verma was the reason for the team’s score increase with a 107-run partnership with Abhishek Sharma for the 2nd wicket and a 58-run partnership with Ringu Singh for the 5th wicket.
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As India reached 100 runs in the ninth over and scored 85 runs in the middle overs 7 to 15 overs, the score was predicted to cross 240 runs. But, collapsed with 219 runs. Although the Indian team accumulated 65 runs in the last 5 overs, they could only add 5 runs in the 20th over bowled by Jansen.
The breakthrough man was Arshdeep Singh
The Indian team’s victory was not certain as long as Clausen and Janssen were on the field. But the Indian team’s victory was confirmed only after the wickets of both fell.
India’s fast bowler Arshdeep Singh made the breakthrough by taking the wicket of Rickleton in the beginning and taking the wickets of two key batsmen, Clausen and Jansen, in the middle. Arshdeep who bowled 4 overs scored 37 runs and took 3 wickets.
Apart from Arshdeep, Ravi Bisnoi and Axar Patel bowled well. But the batsmen have accumulated more runs in the bowling of Varun Chakraborty who took 5 wickets in the last game. Similarly, Hardik Pandya’s over was also whitewashed.
Only one fast bowler
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The Indian team fielded yesterday with only one fast bowler. Arshdeep bowled in a way that confirmed the confidence he had in him.
Apart from that, Arshdeep surpassed Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the highest wicket-taker in T20I with 92 wickets in 59 innings.
Sahal is at the top with 96 wickets. Bumrah has 89 wickets in 69 innings and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has 90 wickets in 86 innings.
Inexperience
With 15 months to go before the T20 World Cup, South Africa is still experimenting with new players. The match was played with no clarity on who would field the batsman, its depth, intensity and plans.
Without experienced bowlers Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ingiti and Narje, South Africa played with new players. As a result, they bowled 10 wides and 3 no balls yesterday and showed their lack of experience.
Struggling South Africa
South Africa needed 12 runs per over to win. At the end of the powerplay overs they lost 2 wickets and added 55 runs and almost touched the run rate.
But, the required run rate rose to 17 in the last 5 overs and created a crisis. But the game heated up when Clausen and Miller added 58 runs off 35 balls in their partnership.
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But Axar Patel’s catch at deep mid-wicket to Miller, reminiscent of Suryakumar’s catch in the T20 World Cup final, broke the Miller-Clawson partnership. Miller went on a disappointing 18.
Likewise, Clausen fired sixes in action right from the start and got the fans excited. Clausen bowled Varun Chakraborty’s 14th over for 23 with 3 sixes and a four. Arshdeep Singh took the wicket of Clauson, who batted aggressively with 41 runs off 22 balls, by pulling it offside and throwing it with a slow ball.
Yanchen’s threatening fifty
Janssen’s game heated up as fans thought the game would end quickly after Clausen was dismissed. Jansen blasted two sixes in the 17th over off Ravi Bisnoi. With South Africa needing 51 runs to win in the last two overs, the game was on India’s side.
But, in the 19th over thrown by Hardik Pandya, he hit 3 fours and 2 sixes and added 26 runs and created a sensation in the game. South Africa needed 25 runs in the last over to win.
Koetsi hit the first ball of the last over by Arshdeep and scored a run. Janssen hits a six off the 2nd ball to record his maiden T20I half-century in 16 balls. However, Jansen was dismissed for 54 runs after being caught in the call in the 3rd ball.
Coming in with 18 runs needed from three balls, Similene hit a boundary in the 4th ball. Samilane scored a run in the 5th ball and the win went to India. Janssen, Clausen and Miller of the South African team fought till the end but could not make the team win.
Samson dug-out, Abhishek in action
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Sanju Samson was dismissed in the first over by Janssen in the dug-out in this match as well. Samson, who scored 2 consecutive hundreds, was dismissed in 2 consecutive dug-outs. Abhishek Sharma, who has been out of form for the last few matches, bowled calmly yesterday and then settled into action.
The partnership of Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma took the team’s score to the top. Coetzee, Sibala and Similane both bowled overs.
Abhishek Sharma hit 5 sixes and 3 fours to score a 24-ball fifty. Due to the action of the two, the Indian team added 70 runs for the loss of one wicket in the powerplay.
The Abhishek-Tilak partnership was separated by 107 runs. Abhishek was bowled by Keshav Maharaj for 50 runs. Next captain Suryakumar was bowled by Similane for one run. Hardik Pandya also got out on 18 runs off Maharaj’s bowling.
Tilak Verma added more runs in Ringu Singh-Tilak Verma alliance. The two put on a partnership of 58 runs but it was Tilak Verma who added 45 runs. Ringu Singh was bowled by Similane for 8 runs. Raman Deep Singh was run-out for 15 runs.
Easels that stopped the game
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During the South African chase, numerous easels for electric lighting hovered around the ground. As a result, Indian players also struggled to field and bowl.
The South African batsmen were unable to bat as the easel hit their eyes. After this, the lights were turned off for a while to stop the easel from flying and the game was stopped for 30 minutes. This is the first time a game has been stopped for 30 minutes by Isal.
Fearless young players
Speaking after the win, Indian team captain Suryakumar said, “This win is gratifying. What we discussed in the team meeting, we did in the game. Young players play fearlessly. We told them that they should play here like they play in net training, like they play for their team in the IPL series, like they play for their state.”
Suryakumar said that even though some missed opportunities in some matches, the players have brought themselves back to form, “Tilak asked me to field as the 3rd player and I said today is your day to bat and powder club. I said with confidence as I know Tilak’s ability and batting very well.”
– This is a Collective Newsroom publication for the BBC.
