Star India batter Tilak Verma dedicated his maiden T20I century to skipper Suryakumar Yadav as he promoted him up the order during the third match of the series at the SuperSport Park on Wednesday.
Tilak Varma was named the 'Player of the Match' after his staggering performance with the bat. The left-hand batter played an unbeaten knock of 107 runs off just 56 deliveries which was laced with eight boundaries and seven maximums in his innings. The southpaw scored runs at a whopping strike rate of 191.07.
"It was for Suryakumar, our captain. He has given me the opportunity to bat at No.3. Because I love to bat at that spot, and last 2 matches I batted at No.4. But before this match, he came to my room and said that 'you're going to bat at No.3. It's a good opportunity, so express yourself," said Tilak in the post-match press conference.
Recapping the 3rd T20I of the series, South Africa won the toss and decided to field. Abhishek Sharma (50 runs from 25 balls, 3 fours and 5 sixes) and Tilak Varma (107* runs from 56 balls, 8 fours and 7 sixes) powered India to 219/6 in the first innings. Other batters failed to shine with the bat.
Andile Simelane and Keshav Maharaj led the Proteas bowling attack and bagged two wickets each in their respective spell.
During the run chase, Heinrich Klaasen (41 runs from 22 balls, 1 four and 4 sixes) and Marco Jansen (54 runs from 17 balls, 4 fours and 5 sixes) kept the Proteas in the game. But with the help of Arshdeep, India prevailed in the end.
Arshdeep did the job both with the new ball and in the death overs as he picked up three crucial wickets and gave 37 runs in his four-over spell. Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets in his four-over spell.
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