Johannesburg, November 16 (UITV)- India registered a historic win in the T20 match played against South Africa and won the four-match series 3-1. The match was played at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, in which India gave a record performance in both batting and bowling. On the basis of brilliant unbeaten centuries of Sanju Samson and Tilak Verma, India scored a huge score of 283/1 against South Africa. After this, Arshdeep Singh’s deadly bowling bundled out South Africa for just 148 runs, giving India a big win by 135 runs.
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bat first. Openers Sanju Samson and Tilak Verma did not give any chance to the South African bowlers. Samson scored an unbeaten 109 off 56 balls, while Tilak Verma scored an unbeaten 120 off 47 balls. These two batsmen made an unbeaten partnership of 210 runs, which is India’s biggest partnership in T20 International.
Samson hit nine sixes and six fours in his innings, while Tilak hit 10 sixes and nine fours. During this explosive batting, India hit a total of 23 sixes and 17 fours. This is the record for the most sixes hit by the Indian team in any T20 International match.
India scored 73/1 in the powerplay. Abhishek Sharma scored 36 runs in 18 balls with the help of four sixes and two fours and added 73 runs in 5.5 overs for the first wicket with Samson. After Sharma was out, Samson and Tilak Verma thrashed the South African bowlers. India completed 100 runs in 8.3 overs and 200 runs in 14.1 overs.
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Samson has become the first Indian batsman to score three centuries in T20. At the same time, Tilak Verma became the second Indian to score a century in two consecutive T20 International matches.
South Africa’s team, which came out to chase the target, had a very bad start. Arshdeep Singh took three wickets in his first two overs. He gave early setbacks to South Africa by dismissing Reeza Hendricks (0), Aiden Markram (8) and Heinrich Klaasen (0). Due to his performance, South Africa’s score became 10/4 in the first three overs.
Hardik Pandya took the fifth wicket by dismissing Ryan Rickelton (1). However, David Miller and Tristian Stubbs handled the team to some extent by sharing 86 runs for the fifth wicket. Stubbs scored 43 runs in 29 balls, while Miller added 36 runs in 27 balls.
Varun Chakraborty and Axar Patel bowled brilliantly in the middle overs. Chakraborty took two wickets for 42 runs, while Axar took two wickets for just six runs. South Africa were all out for 148 in 18.2 overs.
India’s score of 283/1 is the highest T20 score ever at the Wanderers Stadium. This is India’s second-highest score against any team. Earlier, India had scored 297 runs in Hyderabad this year.
With this win, India not only won the series 3-1, but also made a record of 24 wins in 26 T20 matches played in 2023. This performance proved the depth and balance of the Indian team.
South Africa used seven bowlers in this match, but failed to stop the Indian batsmen. Their batting also collapsed in front of India’s fast bowlers.
The performance of the Indian team in this series is evidence of the emergence of many young players. Players like Sanju Samson and Tilak Verma can play an important role in the team’s long-term plans. Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakraborty’s contribution in bowling was also noteworthy.
India not only registered a record win in this match but also proved the talent of its players and the depth of the team. This victory will boost the morale of the team for the upcoming tournaments and indicates a bright future for Indian cricket.
