- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 16 Nov 2024 01:15 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs SA, 4th T20I: The Men in Blue had a brilliant ending to the year in the shortest format as they showed their brute batting prowess and outplayed South Africa during the fourth and last T20I in Johannesburg on Friday as both Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson smashed centuries each and helped the team post a mammoth target of 283 runs. India won the series by 3-1 after skittling South Africa out for 148 runs in 18.2 overs and won the match by 135 runs in front of a packed Wanderers stadium.
Arshdeep Singh registered a dreamy spell as he took three wickets with the new ball and dismantled South Africa's batting lineup. He swung the ball both ways and gave the Protea batters a hard time. They were reeling at 10/4 during the third over and their dreams of chasing this mammoth target looked slim. Hardik Pandya too shined with the new ball whereas Varun Chakravarthy took two important wickets although he did concede a lot of runs.
Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson broke many records and became the first pair of a Test-playing nation to have smashed centuries in a single T20I match. They stitched a match-winning partnership of 210 runs off 86 balls and helped the team set the mammoth target of 283, which was also the highest total in overseas conditions.
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India clearly changed the way teams should play in the shortest format this year. The Rohit Sharma-led side earlier used to smash the opponent bowlers with the bat. Getting rid of the fear of failure, the Indian batters have played freely and aggressively since the beginning. The change in this approach helped them lift their second title at the 2024 T20 World Cup, held in the West Indies and the USA earlier this year.
Suryakumar Yadav then took over Rohit Sharma's T20I captaincy and ensured that the team maintained consistency. Their hard work paid off, as India defeated South Africa in their backyard and won the T20I series for the fourth time. They ended this year on a high by winning 24 T20I matches.
Their aggressive batting approach was quite evident on Friday. Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bat first on a pitch that was batting-friendly. Abhishek and Sanju could score just four runs in the first over but then displayed their batting prowess in the second over.
