Samson , Tilak destroy South African bowling with explosive 100s as India win T20I series 3-1

 

Explosive batting by Sanju Samson & Tilak Varma helped India's young T20I team to script a memorable 4 match series win over South Africa  in South Africa.  It was a thrilling display of batting by the two Indians that followed a high skilled bowling spell  by Arshdeep Singh which completely  put South Africa out of the game and India romped away to an emphatic series win by 3-1 .

Batting first India were off to a whirlwind start as Sanju Samson and  Abhishek Sharma in particular were off to an absolute flier . Abhishek was lucky to be dropped in the slips off Jansen very early but after that he ruthlessly punished the loose South African bowling to race to a sparkling 36 off just 18 balls with 4 sixes to set the tone . When he departed India had managed 73/1 in the powerplay. 

Tilak joined Samson who already was off to a fluent start playing gorgeous shots. From then on it was a pure Samson - Tilak show as they unfurled their full range of shots to captivate a capacity  crowd at the Bullring in Wanderers . It was breathtaking strokeplay from both of them at its best as the South African bowlers were flayed to all parts of the ground . It was a fierce onslaught as sixes flowed thick and fast off pull shots , hook shots , flicks , staight hits down the ground , over the covers etc as both the batters reduced the match into a highlights package . 

It was a race between the two as to who will reach his 100 first and finally it was Samson scoring his 2nd 100 of the series after a couple of ducks in the previous two games . Tilak Varma followed soon to his 100 as it was an absolute carnage at the Wanderers . 

Finally India finished at a mind boggling 283/1 in 20 overs with Sanju Samson scoring a breathtaking 108 not out in 56 balls with 6 fours and 9 sixes and Tilak Varma scoring a  explosive 120 not out in just 47 balls with 9 fours and 10 sixes  !!! 

Sanju Samson scored at a strike rate of 194 and Tilak scored at a strike rate of 255  not to speak of Abhishek's 200 strike rate in his cameo . South Africa had 3 world class bowlers in Jansen , Coetzee and Maharaj in their ranks but they were reduced to mere spectators in the face of this severe onslaught . 

Set to score an improbable 284 to win in 20 overs at an insane  asking rate of 14 plus , the South African batters were confronted by some high skilled Indian swing bowling under lights  as Arshdeep Singh was nipping the ball around along with an impressive Hardik Pandya  . Reeza Hendricks was bowled by an absolute beauty that shaped in to take the off bail (0) , Rickelton (1)  slashed and was caught behind off Pandya , Markram misread a slower ball from Arshdeep and skied to Bishnoi for 8 and Klaasen was lbw to a sharp inswinger by Arshdeep 1st ball and so even before the spectators could settle into their seats for the home team reply , South Africa were left tottering at 10/4 . 

The game was virtually done and dusted  though Tristan Stubbs (43) and David Miller (36) put up a fight and showed some flashes of brillance but now the spinners got into the act . Bishnoi and Chakravarty dismissed Stubbs and Miller respectively and though Jansen (29*) and Coetzee (12) hit a share of their sixes it was only delaying and inevitable as finally India emerged victorious  by a thumping margin of 135 runs .  Arshdeep Singh (3/20) was outstanding while all the other bowlers got wickets .

Tilak Varma with his 2 centuries in the series was the player of the series as well as the man of the match .