Young Indian batter Tilak Varma had an incredible outing against South Africa in the 3rd T20I in Centurion as he scored his first-ever T20I century. By doing so, Tilak became the youngest-ever centurion in T20I history, at 22 years and 5 days. Varma’s blitz massively helped India in putting up their highest-ever T20I score against South Africa, piling on 219/6.
Varma entered the crease following opener Sanju Samson’s dismissal for a 2-ball duck. The left-hander joined forces with Abhishek Sharma and the pair of young power-hitters put together a terrific 107-run partnership. Tilak largely played second fiddle to Abhishek, who caused carnage with his 25-ball half-century.
Following the wickets of Abhishek, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, Varma took his time to build the innings, preparing for the final assault. He started the assault by smashing pacer Gerald Coetzee for 21 runs in the over.
Tilak reached his century in the 19th over with a beautiful punch down the ground for a boundary. The remarkable century came off only 51 deliveries and included 8 boundaries and 7 sixes. He would end the innings unbeaten on 107 off 56 deliveries.
The Hyderabad batter became the 12th Indian player to score a T20I century. He also became the youngest T20I centurion overall, overtaking Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal, who previously held the Indian record.
