SA vs IND: Tilak Varma, Arshdeep, Varun break multiple records in Centurion T20I

Tilak Varma and India were on fire in the third game of the four-match T20I series at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.

After being asked to bat first, India put up a massive score of 219 for the loss of six wickets. Sanju Samson departed for a duck, but Abhishek Sharma, who was earlier struggling for form, scored a brisk half-century to put the opposition under pressure.

Abhishek and Tilak Varma put on 107 runs for the second wicket off 50 balls to lay the platform for India in their run-chase. After Abhishek got out, Tilak carried on to stay not out on 107 off 56 balls, laced with eight fours and seven sixes. Tilak also became the second-youngest Indian to notch a T20I hundred after Yashasvi Jaiswal, who got to the landmark in the Asian Games last year.

Ramandeep Singh made an impact on his T20I debut, scoring an unbeaten 15 off six balls. For the Proteas, Keshav Maharaj was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-0-36-2. Andile Simelane also got two wickets, but leaked 34 runs in three overs at 11.33. Later, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy guided India through to an 11-run win after restricting the Proteas to 208 for seven.

Here are some records made by India and their players in the Centurion T20I

2 – India racked up their second-highest T20I score against South Africa. Their highest score of 237 for 3 came back in October 2022 in Guwahati.

1 – India notched their highest team score against South Africa away from home. Their previous highest score was 203 for five back in February 2018 in Johannesburg.

1 – India got their highest ever team total in T20Is on South African soil. Their previous highest score was 218 for four back in the 2007 T20 World Cup match against England in Durban.

1 – Tilak Varma got the highest individual score by an Indian batter in Men’s T20Is at the SuperSport Park. Manish Pandey’s 79 not out back in February 2018 was the previous highest.

3 – Tilak Varma also got the third-highest individual T20I score in Centurion. Babar Azam’s 122 and Johnson Charles’ 118 remain the top two.

2 – Tilak Varma became the second youngest Indian to score a hundred in T20Is at the age of 22 years and five days. Yashasvi Jaiswal holds the record at the age of 21 years and 279 days in the Asian Games 2023 match against Nepal.

8 – Ramandeep Singh became the eighth batter and the second Indian to hit a six in the first ball of T20Is. The others are Sohail Tanvir, Jerome Taylor, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Tino Best, Suryakumar Yadav and Mangaliso Moshele.

1 – Varun Chakravarthy made the record for most wickets by an Indian in a bilateral series in Men’s T20Is. He picked up 10 wickets and broke a record which was jointly held by R Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi with nine wickets apiece.

1 – Arshdeep Singh went past Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to become India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is among fast bowlers. He also climbed to second in the list of most wickets by an Indian in Men’s T20Is second only to Yuzvendra Chahal.