Tilak, Abhishek powers India to a narrow 11 run win over South Africa in 3rd T20I
Powerpacked batting by Tilak Varma & Abhishek Sharma and timely wickets picked by the Indian bowlers helped India to carve out a narrow 11 run win over the hosts South Africa at Centurion and take 2-1 lead in the 4 match series but not before the Indians had to withstand some lusty and explosive hitting from Klaasen and Jansen as the hosts made a brave attempt to overhaul the formidable target .
In the third T20 match, India scored 219 runs for 6 wickets while batting first. In response, the hosts managed 208 runs for 7 wickets. In a nail-biting finish, India won by 11 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav's team has been relying on one or two batters to keep them in the game, with Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 107-run innings being the savior on Wednesday. Across the three matches, the opening partnership has struggled to provide a solid start. After scoring a century in the first match, Sanju Samson failed to score in the next two games and today he was bowled by a fast straight delivery from Jansen for 0.
Abhishek Sharma, however, broke his streak of poor form with a fifty in this game, though inconsistency among the openers remains a concern. The young opener played a blazing knock of 50 in 25 balls to set up the Indian innings before Tilak Varma took over in style. Captain Suryakumar (1) himself has been unable to tackle South Africa’s bowlers. Despite the high investments made by IPL teams to retain players like Hardik Pandya (18) and Rinku Singh (8), they have not been delivering with the bat. Mistakes in shot selection and a lack of finishing were visible on the Centurion pitch.
The lower-order batters fell short of expectations, causing India’s innings to end earlier than anticipated, with only 4 runs added in the final over. Still, Tilak Varma’s explosive 107 off 56 balls, including 8 fours and 7 sixes, added a shine to the innings. Apart from Tilak’s performance, Abhishek contribution of a breathtaking 50 off 25 balls, the extras added 19 runs, while the combined contribution from other Indian batters was just 43 runs.
India’s bowlers, especially the spinners, have been getting recent successes . South African batters have traditionally struggled against spin, and Suryakumar’s bowlers took advantage of that. However, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Varun Chakravarthy had a tough day, losing his rhythm against Heinrich Klaasen and conceding 54 runs despite taking 2 wickets. Ravi Bishnoi, on the other hand, managed to trouble the South African batters somewhat with his spin.
Before Klaasen came to the crease, Indian bowlers had already put South Africa under pressure by dismissing key players like Aiden Markram, exposing South Africa’s long-standing issue of collapsing under pressure. Rickelton (20) , Hendricks (21) & Markram (29) flattered to deceive . Chasing 220, they lost 4 wickets for 84 runs, making things difficult for themselves. Stubbs(12) & Miller (18) struggled. The aggressive Klaasen (41 off 22 balls) was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh under pressure. Arshdeep bowled effectively, while Hardik disappointed with both bat and ball. Marco Jansen hammered Hardik for 26 runs in the 19th over, raising questions about the senior Indian players' accountability in white-ball cricket. Jansen, who scored his first T20 half-century (54 off 16 balls), almost turned the game around but couldn’t overcome Arshdeep’s disciplined bowling. Arshdeep finished with figures of 3 wickets for 37 runs, playing a crucial role in India’s victory.
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