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Varma and Samson on a rampage as India hammer Proteas

athletics15 November 2024 19:34| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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An astonishing display of power-hitting from India’s top three batsmen saw the tourists to an eye-watering total of 283-1 before dismissing South Africa for 148 in reply to record an overwhelming 135-run victory in the fourth and final T20 International at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday evening.

It was not only South Africa’s heaviest defeat in T20 Internationals, but also the most one-sided result among major nations.

India won the toss and elected to bat first.

Sanju Samson added a second century to the 107* he scored in the first match, reaching the milestone from just 51 balls and Tilak Varma backed up his hundred just two days earlier in Centurion with an astonishing century from just 41 balls.

The two batsmen shattered a host of records during their second-wicket stand of 210 from just 93 deliveries.

It followed an opening stand of 73 between Samson and Abhishek Sharma whose 36 from only 18 balls (2x4, 4x6) was virtually forgotten at the end of the 20 overs.

South Africa were reduced to 10-4 in reply with left-arm swing bowler Arshdeep Singh (3-0-20-3) removing Reeza Hendricks (0), Aiden Markram (8) and Heinrich Klaasen (0) to rip the heart out of an extremely unlikely run-chase.

Tristan Stubbs (43) and David Miller (36) offered brief respite and Marco Jansen belted three sixes in his 29 from 12 balls but the embarrassment was soon to be complete with spinners Varun Chakravarthy (2-42), Axar Patel (2-6) and Ravi Bishnoi (1-28) wrapping up the tail.

CARNAGE FROM THE START

Although it was obvious that South Africa’s bowlers had ‘plans’, they were not helped by the delivery of a staggering 17 wides and the fact that three catches were dropped and another three or four miscues landed just short of fielders.

Samson finished on 109 from 56 balls with six fours and nine sixes while Varma ended with an astonish 120 from just 47 balls with nine fours and 10 sixes with both batsmen unveiling a scarcely credible variety of conventional and highly unconventional strokes.

Reverse sweeps against fast bowlers are not uncommon but rarely have they been as productive as during this innings, both players seemingly able to predict where every delivery would be bowled.

It was carnage from the start and it never ended.

Jansen was the most economical of the bowlers with 0-42 from his four overs while Gerald Coetzee (3-0-43-0) bravely returned to bowl two overs after leaving the field with a hamstring injury. 

The course and tone of the innings might have been different had Reeza Hendricks held a regulation slip catch off Jansen in the first over before Abhishek had scored.

But probably not.

The tourists had an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series after victories by 61 runs and 11 runs in the first and third matches in Durban and Centurion while the hosts won by three wickets in Gqeberha.

SOUTH AFRICA: Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Andile Simelane, Keshav Maharaj, Lutho Sipamla.

INDIA: Sanju Samson (wkt), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandy, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy.

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