India’s young guard continued to enjoy a terrific series with the bat in South Africa, as Tilak Varma scored his maiden T20I century with a brilliant knock at SuperSport Park in Centurion in the third T20I of the series. In doing so, Tilak became the youngest-ever centurion in T20I history, at 22 years and 5 days.
Tilak smashed an unbeaten 107*(56), batting through the innings after coming in to bat in the very first over. Tilak Varma’s blitz helped India score their highest-ever T20 score against South Africa, piling on 219-6.
Tilak Varma was at the crease early after the departure of Sanju Samson for a duck on only the second ball of the Indian innings. He was quick to get going, collecting a boundary off his second ball and following that up with the first of 7 sixes in his innings.
He joined forces with Abhishek Sharma, as the pair of exciting young southpaws put together a terrific 107-run partnership. Tilak largely played second fiddle as Abhishek was causing carnage with a 25-ball 50, but showed plenty of power-hitting in the powerplay himself.
After a brief lull following the wickets of Abhishek, captain Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, Tilak took his time to build the innings, preparing for the final assault. However, he stepped back on the gas pedal with a big over against Keshav Maharaj, before playing around with Gerald Coetzee’s field for a massive 21-run over the very next over.
Tilak reached his century in the 19th over with a beautiful punch down the ground for four, an example of how he had relied on creativity and shot-making throughout his innings, beyond just relying on power. Tilak scored 8 boundaries along with 7 sixes to supercharge India’s innings.
Tilak breaks Pakistan batter’s record to set new T20I milestone
The Hyderabad batter became the 12th Indian player to score a T20I century, and the third this year following in the footsteps of Samson and Abhishek. He is also the youngest T20I centurion overall, overtaking Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal, who previously held the Indian record.
Varma was given able support later in the innings by a Ramandeep Singh cameo on debut, helping India go well past the 200 mark. Tilak will be hoping his runs help India to a win, removing the chance for a series loss for India on this 4-match tour.
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