Ramandeep Singh made his T20I debut for India on November 13, facing South Africa in the third T20I of the four-match series at SuperSport Park, Centurion. The 27-year-old all-rounder hailing from Punjab batted at No. 7 in his first appearance for India, and on the very first ball bowled to him by South African bowler Andile Simelane, he hit a six. In hitting a six on the first ball of his international career, Ramandeep matched the record set by Suryakumar Yadav.
This made him the second India cricketer after Surya to hit a six on T20I debut. Surya opened his scoring account in his first T20I against England on March 18, 2021 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, by also hitting a six on Jofra Archer in his very first T20I.
Surya scored 57 runs off 31 balls with six fours and three sixes in that match and was adjudged man of the match, while Ramandeep in his first T20I playing for Men in Blue, scored 15 runs off six balls
He had made an attempt to take a quick single and was run out by Heinrich Klaasen on the second last ball of the 20th over of Indian innings.
Before returning back to the dugout, Ramandeep shared a stand of 28 runs for the sixth wicket with Tilak Varma as India managed to go past the 200 run mark in the ongoing four-match series for the second time.
Tilak promoted to bat at No. 3 in the third T20I, scored highest for Suryakumar Yadav’s team remaining not out at 107 off just 56 balls. He struck eight fours and seven sixes during his innings. He is the second ever Indian batsman after Yashasvi Jaiswal to make a century in T20 format at such a young age and also made most runs in T20I match between India and South Africa equaling Sanju Samson’s record.
Tilak was awarded the Player of the Match for his outstanding batting performance in the match which India won by 11 runs to take a 2-1 series lead.
The rest of the series will conclude on November 15 at Johannesburg with the fourth and final T20 International of the series.
