Tilak ton, Arshdeep three-for put India 2-1 up

India 219 for 6 (Tilak 107, Abhishek 50, Simelane 2-34) beat South Africa 208 for 7 (Jansen 54, Arshdeep 3-37) by 11 runs

At a time when the next major tournament is 15 months away, and with the knowledge they reached this year’s T20 World Cup final, that may not worry South Africa too much. But there will be questions over their depth and some of their strategies after they conceded heavily and stumbled in the chase for the second time in the series.

South Africa’s seam strength without Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, is, as expected, inexperienced. It showed in a messy display at Supersport Park which included 10 wides and three no-balls. Those numbers pale in comparison to that of Tilak, who, at 22 years and five days old, became India’s second youngest centurion after Yashasvi Jaiswal, and took just 51 balls to get to his hundred. He shared in a 107-run second-wicket stand with Abhishek Sharma, and a 58-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rinku Singh, in which Tilak contributed 45. Though India were set for a total above 240, after bringing up 100 in the ninth over, Tilak still made sure they had enough.

With an asking rate of 11 needed, South Africa fell behind early on. They needed close to 12 runs an over by the end of the powerplay and as much as 17 runs an over in the last five. At that stage, they had their two biggest hitters, Heinrich Klassen and David Miller at the crease and their partnership had reached 58 off 35 balls. In an eerie reminder of Suryakumar Yadav’s catch on the long-off boundary in the T20 World Cup final in June, Axar Patel timed his jump at deep mid-wicket boundary to perfection and Miller had to depart.

South Africa strike early; India strike back

Jansen got South Africa off to a perfect start when his second ball scythed through Sanju Samson. Samson’s all-or-bust time continued, with his last four T20I scores reading 111, 107, 0, 0 but India did not spend too much time dwelling on that. They promoted Tilak Varma to No. 3 with astonishing results. He hit the second ball he faced through backward point for four and then smashed Jansen over third for six. Abhishek Sharma, who was dismissed for single-figure scores at both coastal venues, quickly rectified that when he took 14 runs off Gerald Coetzee’s opening over, and he showed the full range of his repertoire.

Abhishek went through midwicket, over point and then through the covers. Coetzee was swiftly replaced by Lutho Sipamla, who Tilak pulled behind square, and Jansen by Andile Simelane, who bore the brunt of Abhishek’s aggression. He struck back-to-back sixes to opposite corners of the ground and India were running away with the powerplay. They were 70 for 1 after six overs, and South Africa were yet to bring on the spinners.

Maharaj and Simelane apply the brakes

India brought up 100 inside nine overs when Abhishek launched Keshav Maharaj over long-on but South Africa’s experienced left-arm spinner had the last laugh. Three balls later, he dragged a delivery wide of Abhishek, who reached out to try and send it through the leg side but missed and was stumped. In the next over, Andile Simelane gave Suryakumar Yadav width and tempted him to cut but the Indian captain could only slice it to Jansen at deep point. Simelane now has two international wickets and both are Suryakumar’s. Maharaj’s second over cost 10 runs but he was kept on for a third, with success. Hardik Pandya missed a sweep, was hit on the pack pad and given out lbw. India lost 3 for 25 in 26 balls and South Africa pulled them back.

But there’s no stopping Tilak

Maharaj is known for his ability to slow things down but by his last over, Tilak had had enough. He used his crease well to go 4-6-4 over extra cover, deep square leg and deep mid-wicket and Maharaj finished with 36 off his four overs. That was the warning shot. Coetzee took an absolute pasting in his next over, which also included three wides, with Tilak finding the long and short boundaries. Marco Jansen bowled a boundary-less 17th over and Rinku Singh was bowled by a Simelane yorker in the 18th. But by then Tilak was unstoppable. He brought up his hundred when he smoked Sipamla past mid-off for his seventh four. Tilak went on to hit one more four to add to his seven sixes and ended unbeaten on 107.

Flying ants stop play

Varun the victor

South Africa may have thought they had the better of Varun when Aiden Markram hit him for two sixes over long-on in his third over but it was a case of the opposite. Markram should have put the last ball away over mid-wicket but hit it straight to Ramandeep Singh and extended a miserable run for the South African captain. He has gone 27 innings without a T20I half-century and has not gone past 30 in his last 12 innings. Heinrich Klaasen was the only player who could take some bragging rights after he hit Varun for three successive sixes, including the biggest of the match at 109 meters, in an over that cost 23. Varun finished with his most expensive T20I analysis but made two crucial breakthroughs and in the end, that’s all that matters. South Africa needed 86 off the last five overs and though Jansen flexed his batting muscles, it was a bridge too far.