6:46pm Another whirlwind Indian innings, with a terrific Tilak Varma ton at the centre of it all. He walked in ahead of captain Suryakumar and inside the first over, but showed no signs of nerves of tentativeness. He took the attack to South Africa almost immediately and never looked back. He found an able ally in Abhishek, who notched up his fifty too and at one point, India seemed set to go well past 225.
They were pegged back a touch, with South Africa’s bowlers coming to the fore through the middle. Tilak, though, paced his innings superbly and ensured that India got up to 219, which seems like a very handy total on a surface that has offered something to the spinners and to the slower balls.
As for South Africa, Jansen was the pick of the bowlers. He set the tone by removing Samson and then gave away just four off the 20th. Maharaj did his bit too and while 220 seems a steep chase, South Africa will take heart from the fact that 200-plus totals have been chased down thrice previously at SuperSport Park. Join us in a bit for the chase!
Here are some super stats from Sampath: Tilak Varma is second youngest Indian to score a hundred in men’s T20Is, after Yashasvi Jaiswal. Tilak is the 12th batter to score a hundred for India in men’s T20Is. No other team has more than six batters scoring a T20I ton for them. Tilak’s hundred was also the fifth for India against South Africa in T20Is, the most by any team against an opponent.
Jansen to Patel, 1 run, into the blockhole on middle and leg. Axar has a pop at it but jams it off the inside edge into his pads. The ball rolls away behind the stumps and India’s innings ends in a slight anti-climax!
