Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma went berserk as the Proteas were left searching for answers. The duo Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma hit sixes for fun as India broke several records as they posted the total of 283/1 in the allotted twenty overs. Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma played knocks of 109 and 120 respectively as India posted more than 280 runs on the board. Team India hit a total of 23 sixes in the fourth T20I. As a result, Team India have now registered the joint third-highest number of most sixes in a single T20I innings.
Suryakumar Yadav-led Team India displayed brute hitting to leave South Africa shell-shocked in the fourth and final T20I of the four-match series at the Wanderers, Johannesburg on Friday.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch and Conditions: “It has been a slightly cooler day in Johannesburg. We are in the centre of the square. We have a decent hit straight, 86 meters, the square boundaries – 62 and 66 meters. It looks really good. Usually the pitches here have no grass and cracks but we are devoid of that today. There’s a decent covering of grass. No cracks. It is going to carry through nicely and the ball will come on. It is a kind of pitch where you go after the bowlers then you can put some jitters,” inform Natalie Germanos and Shaun Pollock.
Toss : Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bat with no changes in the playing XI . South African skipper Aiden Markram who wasn’t sure to bat or bowl first also made no changes in the playing XI .
Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma’s ton break plethora of records as South Africa reduced to school team in 4th T20I as India reached 283 for 1
The day undoubtedly belonged to Tilak and Samson as they bludgeoned South Africa’s bowlers into submission with their effortless brand of strokeplay. Abhishek Sharma (36 off 18) gave some early impetus with a typically quickfire cameo as he and Samson ensured a 73-run PowerPlay for the visitors. Abhishek fell in the sixth over but the opening partnership had set the tone for Tilak Varma to continue the onslaught.
The latter, fresh off his maiden T20I ton in the previous game, kicked on from the word go as he plundered boundaries and sixes with elan. Samson, who had himself started off in rollicking fashion seemed to be going slowly in comparison to Tilak Varma’s aggression.
How many different words are there to describe the way that India have batted in most of this series?! But it’s our job to try. We can come up with outrageous, expressive, unbelievable, or we could just let the numbers do the talking. India were 73 for 1 after the powerplay, 129 for 1 after 10 overs, 200 for 1 in the 15th over, and smashed 84 more runs in the last six overs.
The 210-run second-wicket stand between Samson and Tilak Varma was the highest for any wicket by India in men’s T20Is and they did not spare any part of the ground. Samson’s six-hitting was particularly impressive in the V, which accounted for four in his total of nine. The other four came on the on side but his wagon wheel was pretty even with 54 off-side runs to 55 leg-side.
Tilak Varma had a clear preference. He hit 74 runs on the leg side, including eight of his 10 sixes, and 46 on the off side. In the end, the direction would not have mattered to South Africa’s bowlers. Only Marco Jansen conceded at less than 11 runs an over and everyone else went at an economy rate of 14 or more. And a word for the pair’s celebrations.
While Samson hardly raised a fist, he had the dugout all flexing their biceps, and Tilak Varma pointed to his captain Suryakumar Yadav – who is likely to allow him to bat at No.3 for as long as he wants – and blew him an air-kiss.
In between the over-reliance on the short ball, ineffective use of the slower one, and the odd full toss, South Africa also did themselves no favours by conceding 12 runs off wides and bowling a no-ball. That’s after they also conceded ten runs in wides and bowled three no-balls at SuperSport Park, where India only bowled one wide.
At the Wanderers, India conceded six runs off wides, so there may have been some issue with bowlers finding their lines. South Africa’s biggest culprit was Gerald Coetzee, who conceded five wide runs, and left the field with a hamstring concern five overs into the match. He retuned to bowl the 15th over but was taken for 20 runs. It was not the most expensive over of the innings – Andile Simelane’s first over, which cost 24, was – but it was bruising nonetheless.
South Africa had no answers to the duo’s fireworks as they constantly peppered the short square boundaries at the venue. Even the much bigger straight dimensions of the ground didn’t deter them from launching downtown over wide long-off and long-on. A brief injury to Gerald Coetzee meant that skipper Aiden Markram brought himself on for a few overs due to the uncertainty around his fast bowler’s return in the game.
That cost the home side dearly as Samson and Tilak Varma tore into the part-timer, scoring 30 runs off his two overs. Anyone who came into the attack faced the same treatment with even the experienced Keshav Maharaj unable to plug the bleeding.
Such was the pace of the blitzkrieg that India got to 219, their total in the previous T20I by the end of the 15th over. At that point, 300 seemed a realistic possibility but South Africa’s bowlers did slightly better at the back end, giving away just 64 off the last 30 balls.
While this on most days is still an expensive return, the relative nature of India’s scoring rate in the first 15 overs meant that the Proteas’ bowlers had managed to rein things in just a tad. The damage, however, had already been done as Tilak Varma and Samson got to their respective tons. For the former, it was his second successive ton, joining his partner as the only two Indians to get back-to-back tons in the format.
For Samson, it capped an excellent run in T20Is, having gotten to his third ton in five innings and also completed a bizarre sequence in the series that read – century, duck, duck, century! Marco Jansen was the only South African bowler to return with respectable bowling figures but he too went at over 10 runs-per-over.
The record for most maximums in a single innings is held by Zimbabwe as the team hit 27 sixes against Gambia in October 2024. In the 4th T20I, Sanju Samson hit 9 maximums while Tilak Varma registered 10 sixes. Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma also registered a partnership of 210 runs for the second wicket off just 93 balls. This is the sixth-highest partnership for any wicket in T20Is. Both the batters also registered the highest partnership for second wicket in T20Is.
Team India also registered the third-fastest 200 in a T20I match. Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma ensured that India post a total of more than 200 inside 14.1 overs. Team India have also registered their second-highest T20I total, owing to Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma’s heroics. It was just earlier this year, that India had registered their highest team T20I total – 297 against Bangladesh.
The chase never looked realistically on and Arshdeep snuffed out any hopes of a miracle with his new-ball burst that was unplayable for most parts. Under lights, the ball hooped around and the left-arm pacer had it on a string, to blow South Africa’s top-order away.
Arshdeep Singh’s 3-fer guides India to comfortable 135 runs victory over SA
Reeza Hendricks was cleaned up for a duck while Markram’s lean patch continued as he fell on a miscue. Ryan Rickelton had followed earlier, edging one of Pandya to the ‘keeper. The killer blow was that of Heinrich Klaasen as a sharp nip-backer kept low to trap him LBW and at 11 for 4, an embarrassing defeat of epic proportions looked on the cards.
Tristan Stubbs (43), David Miller (36) and Jansen (29* off 12) threw their bats around for a few lusty blows to get South Africa close to the 150-run mark. It still meant a crushing defeat but the margin could have been lot worse.
It may have been the lights, or the gathering overhead cloud in preparation of an evening thunderstorm, but it was more likely India’s skill that found swing where South Africa could not. Arshdeep Singh almost immediately got away movement from the right-handed Reeza Hendricks and swerved one in the next ball to flick the off bail into a spin.
He went on to beat Aiden Markram with more exquisite away-swing in a dangerous warning of what was to come. At the other end, Hardik Pandya moved the ball away from Ryan Rickelton once, twice, three and then four times before Rickelton could not resist. He reached for the fifth ball and got an edge to Samson to leave South Africa 1 for 2.
India’s 23 sixes were the most in an innings in a T20I between two Full Member sides, which suggested conditions were suited for big hitting, but it took South Africa a touch over 50 balls to strike their first six. Ramandeep Singh bowled a half-tracker to Tristan Stubbs, and he dispatched it over deep midwicket. Two balls later, Stubbs moved across his stumps and hit Ramandeep over deep square.
In the next over David Miller sent Varun Chakravarthy, the series’ highest wicket-taker, over cow corner before smashing two more sixes, but South Africa’s surge came too late. Varun shifted to around the wicket and made Miller fetch a ball from outside off and he found Tilak at long-on. Stubbs was dismissed lbw by Ravi Bishnoi off the next ball and all Marco Jansen’s 29-ball 12 could do was ensure South Africa finished with a bit more than half of India’s total.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Surya Kumar Yadav the winning skipper said : There’s no secret to adapting to the conditions and situations. Our plans were very clear as soon as we landed in Durban. Last time when we came here, we played the same brand of cricket and wanted to continue that. Though we were up 2-1 in the series, today we wanted to follow the good habits and not worry about the result. It happened naturally.
[on Tilak, Samson and Abhishek’s batting today] It’s very difficult for me to choose one good knock from them, it was amazing batting skills displayed by them. We spoke about that and they literally walked the talk. When we toured last year, we knew there was something in this wicket once the lights were on and the temperature dropped. We just followed that, stuck to our lines and the result was right in front of us.
It gives a big boost if you are winning any ICC tournament, winning from where we won. It was difficult to sum up what goes through our minds when we won there. It is very challenging when we tour South Africa, to come and win here, this is a special win and will stay with me forever.
[on the coaching and support staff] They were sitting and enjoying the show since the first day, they spoke to the boys and said whatever you want, you do, we will sit and enjoy. Even today, they said if you want to bat first and put runs on the board, do it.
Aiden Markram the losing skipper said : Quite hard to be honest. Completely outplayed in all three aspects of the game. Have to give them credit, bat and ball they put us under pressure and it was tough for us to come back. Some good honest reflections need to be done. [on the extras they gave away] Nowadays you can’t be just hitting stumps, you need to bowl wide lines and certain plans you need to come up with.
One or two we might miss but it’s part of the growth for this team, maybe not 15 wides, just two or three and in the long run as we build up to 2026, we can hopefully get it right. It’s busy. As a team we will have a good reflection, as a white-ball team we have some time off, get stuck into some work and ultimately come back better players with better skills and with better execution.
It’s up to each individual as to where they want to go and where they want to invest in. [on the positives for this series] Marco Jansen was incredible this series, Gerald Coetzee as well, it’s not easy in the Highveld, the never-say-die attitude from them and that’s the bits and pieces we can pick up and move forward as a team.
Tilak Varma Player of the Match and Player of the Series for excellent show with the bat said : Actually I wanted to tell one funny thing, last year when I played here I got out first ball. This innings was very crucial for the team and the series.
[on his plans for today] Just want to hold my shape and followed my basics as to what I did in the last game, I was calm. It’s an unbelievable feeling, I couldn’t express it right now, I never imagined, that too two 100s in South Africa in challenging conditions. Thanks to our captain Surya for this. As I said last match, I was injured in the last few games, I believe in God and my processes, that’s why I celebrated like that to God.
Varun Chakravarthy for his effective bowling got Gamechanger of the Series said : Definitely the last two matches have been challenging because of the small boundaries. Even though a few sixes were hit, one mis-shot could get us a wicket. We went with three spinners in the series and it worked for us.
Me and Bishnoi set up a partnership and it worked. [on his plans to the batters] The best approach was to stay away from the arc and I bowled a few short balls and it actually worked for me as well.
Totally professional performance from India as they win the series 3-1. It looked a totally different wicket when India took the ball in the 2nd innings. Arshdeep Singh was in a league of his own as he swung the ball both ways and it was too hot to handle for the hosts. They were reduced to 10/4 and the contest ended there after just 3 overs. It was all about saving face for South Africa after that as Miller and Stubbs began the rebuild. The duo added 86 before Chakravarthy ended things by getting Miller.
Stubbs went next ball to Bishnoi and India closed it out as they bowled South Africa out in the 19th over. Jansen again showed his all-round skills with the bat as he hit a few good blows. The way India came out with the ball with Arshdeep in particular and the way the pitch behaved too – when it seamed and swung a lot decided the game on the back of a massive score to back it up for the visitors. All the six bowlers that India used ended up in the wickets column.
Bat like nobody’s business. That’s how Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma have approached this T20I series against South Africa. They scored a century each in Durban and Centurion respectively and then combined to hit a pair of hundreds in the finale in Johannesburg to rip up the record books and give India a fifth bilateral series win in 2024.
India posted the highest T20I total in South Africa, never mind the venue, and their second-highest in T20Is (a month and three days after their highest, of 297 against Bangladesh). They became the first Full Member side and third international team to have two individual hundreds in the same innings, and the only team to boast four centuries in the same series.
As for South Africa, perhaps the less said, the better. There was no repeat of the famous 438 moment when they went to the change room to the dry humor of one batter (Jacques Kallis) joking that the bowlers had done their job and the batters should follow suit. They were dismissed for 148 and slumped to their biggest defeat in the format by runs, losing by 135. South Africa have not won a bilateral T20I series in more than two years since beating Ireland in August 2022.
Suryakumar Yadav is presented with the series trophy and as is the tradition with recent Indian teams he immediately presents it to the newcomers in the side. That is Yash Dayal, Vyshak and Ramandeep Singh. They are at the centre as they hold the trophy to the cameras. Another series win for India in foreign conditions and they have been deserved winners too.
Just the one loss for them in the series and that was a close game too. The other games their batting ran riot and South Africa had no answers. The future for this T20I side is looking bright as India looks towards the 2026 T20 World Cup at home. South Africa may have been missing a couple of key bowlers in Rabada and Ngidi and that showed as the inexperienced attack was taken apart by the Indians.
With this short white-ball tour done, the attention now shifts to the red-ball format for India. The BGT is up next and that’s a big one starting on the 22nd of this month at Perth. South Africa too have red-ball action coming up against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.