India went on a record-breaking spree in the fourth and final match of a T20I series in South Africa, smashing their highest-ever team total away from home. Tilak Varma hit his second successive hundred (120) and Sanju Samson smashed his third hundred in five innings (109) as India finished with 283 for 1 in their quota of 20 overs.
23 sixes and 11 boundaries were hit as India batters sent South African bowlers on a leather hunt after winning the toss and opting to bat at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday, November 15. Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson stitched 210 runs in just 86 balls for the second-wicket partnership as they went on a six-hitting spree in the series finale.
SA vs IND, 4th T20I Live reactions
Sanju Samson continued his incredible run of form in T20Is, becoming the first Indian batter to hit two hundreds in a bilateral series. Tilak Varma joined the elite club soon after as the two batters lived up to the billing, ruthlessly sending everything into the stands.
In fact, one of Sanju Samson’s big sixes hit a fan on her face and she needed ice pack to simmer the pain. Samson and Tilak took down pacers and spinners, flexing their muscles in front of a packed crowd at one of the iconic venues.
India scripted the record for the highest T20I total by a Test-playing nation last month when they scored 297 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad on October 12. In a span of a month, they posted their second-biggest total in T20I cricket, flaunting their renewed approach to batting in the shortest format of the game.
STAT PACK: LIST OF RECORDS FOR INDIA, SANJU SAMSON AND TILAK IN JO’BURG T20I
- 1: Sanju Samson broke the world record for the most T20I hundreds in a calendar year. Earlier 10 batters scored 2 hundreds, including Rohit Sharma, Colin Munro, Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt and Suryakumar Yadav.
- 283: India’s second-highest T20I total after their 297 that came against Bangladesh in Hyderabad in October 2024. It’s also their highest total away from home in the format.
- 1: It was the first instance of two batters hitting a hundred in a T20I innings for a full-member team.
- 1: Sanju Samson became the first Indian to hit two hundreds in a T20I series. Tilak Varma soon joined him on that list.
- 2: India have two scores in the all-time list of top five team totals in T20I cricket.
- 23: India set a new record for most sixes by them in a T20I innings. They went past 22 that they achieved against Bangladesh last month in Hyderabad.
- 20: Tilak Varma scipted the record for most sixes in a bilateral T20I series for India. He went past Virat Kohli’s 13 sixes against West Indies in 2019. Sanju Samson also went past Kohli’s tally and is placed second with 19 sixes in the series.
- 1: Tilak Varma became the first Indian to hit back-to-back hundreds in a bilateral T20I series for India.
- 210: Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma put on the highest ever second-wicket partnership in T20Is. They went past Sybrand Engelbrecht and Michael Levitt’s 193 against Namibia in February 2024. It was also the highest partnership for any wicket for India in T20Is.
- 41: Tilak Varma hit the third-fastest hundred in T20Is by an Indian. Rohit (35), and Samson (40) have scored faster hundreds.
- 120: Tilak hit the second-best individual score by an Indian in T20Is. Shubman Gill, with 126, holds the record.
India have been dominant with the bat in 2024, having scored 200 or more in 10 of the 25 matches they played in the calendar year. The T20 world champions lived up to the billing on Friday in Johannesburg.
