Marco Jansen, all big heart and long limbs during his 17-ball-54, just couldn’t take the Proteas the last few steps, as they went down by 11 runs, falling short of India’s 219/6 at Centurion in the T20 series.
There was a flying ant attack and Tilak Varma almost violently landed on his neck -while preventing a boundary, and dived in vain two balls later as the Saffers threatened to overhaul the Indian target with Heinrich Klaasen(41) smacking some mammoth ones. But Varma had done enough with 107(56) when India batted, as his team ultimately prevailed.
Varma batted like free-flowing ferocity was his birthright. With 107 off 56, the 22-year-old marched to his maiden ton in T20Is. Neither the fluency of Abhishek Sharma who first pushed the hitting gears, nor the abysmally stuttering struggles of his seniors Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh, that Varma witnessed from the other end, threw the youngster off his fearless focus with silken steely savagery that took India to 219/6 at SuperSport Park.
After India’s 11-match winning streak was broken at Gqeberha, with a particularly wretched outing for the collective top order, and a tame tail to compound matters, the batsmen were bound to be under considerable pressure to pull their weight. It didn’t help that Sanju Samson perished to his second duck, lasting a delivery more than last time, the Marco Jansen delivery keeping low. It brought the promoted Tilak Varma into the crucible of deservedly high expectations.
The Jansen opening over was key to India’s destiny after Samson’s 100, 100, 0, 0 sequence. And that’s when Varma and Sharma, backed themselves. Varma cut Jansen square on the second ball he faced and charged down, opening the face of the bat to send one arcing over
third man boundary. So, even if India were a wicket down, Jansen had still ceded 12 in his opener. The lanky Protea finished with 1-28 eventually, including just 4 off the last over, but Varma had denied him ascendancy at the outset despite the early blow.
The two young lefties were only just getting started. Varma’s assured backlift is one of his prodigious traits, and it brings with it clarity especially on surfaces with bounce on it. But it was the areas he picked – the two square boundaries 59 metres and a little more on either side(as against the 80+ straight)that gave a glimpse of his batting intelligence.
Without really looking like he dominating Jansen, Varma found his swing and range, decided his strokes pretty early, and eased into constantly finding the fence in the powerplay. 34 per cent of his boundaries came square, as he pulled either elan. Though most importantly, Varma didn’t get into a who’s-hittingbigger contest with Sharma, a far cleaner striker of the ball, and a tad elegant too even if he means murdering business.
Sharma completely made Gerald Coetzee lose his radar pulling, cutting and driving yorkers as the headbangers with a headband came undone. SuperSport has seen T20I’s highest chase, and though dry, it was called a belter by Shaun Pollock. But Varma’s credit lay in not trying to match Sharma’s seamless acceleration, especially when he went after Simelane, smacking him for back-to-back sixes, the first hooked, the next going over covers. He welcomed Lutho Sipamla with a double 6 attack too, using his pace to go inside-out over covers. Varma swayed to his own cadence, even when Sharma was striking at 200, and he trailed.
The defining shot for Varma though came right as India was cruising out of the powerplay, 70/1 on board. The Saffers had failed to get their quicks to slowdown to deny the two southpaws punching momentum, but the spinners could threaten to pull things back. But Varma went after Aiden Markram straight away, a switch hit in the 7th over, announcing his refusal to be pegged back.
Sharma got to 50 (24) first, but was sent back soon after. India went from 107/1 to 134/4 in quick time, as Surya and Hardik both couldn’t get going, trying too hard to assert themselves without finding timing on their shots. Varma would stoically bide his time away from the strike. But he showed why Mumbai Indians had gone the distance to retain him as the 5th player, outside of the 4 stars.
Keshav Maharaj after sending back Sharma, had begun throttling the Indians and 18 deliveries went without boundaries as Rinku couldn’t find the sweet spot. But Varma would reach his 50 in 32 balls. In the 15t hover, bowled by Maharaj, the tweaker’s last, Varma had had
enough of respecting his restraining abilities. He went 4-6-4, smacking inside out and then twice going on his knees to pull to mangle the outgoing Maharaj’s figures