Tilak Varma became India’s second centurion in the space of six days and ensured they cannot lose the four-match T20I series. They lead 2-1 with the final match to be played on Friday, and the hosts left with only the option of a draw. South Africa have not won a bilateral T20I series since beating Ireland 2-nil in August 2022 and have lost five and drawn two series in that time.

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.

Marco Jansesn kept South Africa in it until the last over and ensured the result flattered them. He scored his first T20I half-century and blitzed four four and five sixes, three down the ground, to threaten a coup. But South Africa had left themselves with too much to do. Jansen was dismissed lbw to Arshdeep Singh with three balls left in the innings and 18 to get. South Africa lost by 11 runs.

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

We’ve had bees at the Wanderers but this is, to this amateur historian’s mind, the first time flying ants have stopped play,  What, you may ask? Maybe you call them Patingas or Parwana or Eeyal or Eesal but you probably know the ones. They come before the rain, are attracted to light and shed their wings upon landing, and there were so many of them at SuperSport Park, the umpires were concerned they would fly into the players’ eyes. The players were taken off after an over of South Africa’s chase and a light pylon at SuperSport Park was turned off in the hope the flying ants would find somewhere else to congregate. After 28 minutes, they did and play could resume with no overs lost. It’s wild out in Africa, they say, and so it was.

Varun the victor

Forget everything history says about spinners struggling on the Highveld and just look at Varun Chakravarthy.  He came into this match as the leading wicket-taker in the series (with double the number of wickets as his nearest rival) and added another to his name with his most unplayable delivery. South Africa have had no idea about his googly and Reeza Hendricks was done for a second time. He advanced on Varun, slogged wildly, missed and was stumped. South Africa finished the powerplay on 55 for 2.

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.

Brief scores:
India 219 for 6 in 20 overs  (Tilak Verma 107, Abhishek  Sharma 50; Andile Simelane 2-34, Keshav Maharaj 2-36, Marco Jansen 1-28) beat South Africa 208 for 7 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 20, Reeza Hendricks 21, Aiden Markram 29, Heinrich Klassen 41, Marco Jansen 54; Arshdeep Singh 3-37, Hardik Pandya 1-50, Axar Patel 1-29, Varun Chakravarthy 2-54) by 11 runs

[Cricinfo]