4th T20I: Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma lead India to 135-run series win over South Africa | Cricket news

NEW DELHI: India produced an all-round performance to inflict a massive 135-run defeat on South Africa in the fourth and final T20I in Johannesburg on Friday. With this win, India won the four-match series 3-1.
Chasing a mammoth target of 284 runs, South Africa were rattled by pacer Arshdeep Singh’s brilliance as he swung the ball both ways. He dismissed Reeza Hendricks in the first over and then quickly followed up with the wickets of Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen.
Scorecard | As it happened
His stunning effort helped India reduce the hosts to a disastrous 10/4 within just 3 overs, effectively ending the contest early.
South Africa’s only focus now was to save face, with David Miller and Tristan Stubbs bringing the game back. The pair put on 86 runs before Varun Chakravarthy struck and dismissed Miller.
Stubbs fell off the very next ball to Ravi Bishnoi and India ended the innings, bowling South Africa out in the 19th over. Marco Jansen showed his all-round ability with a couple of big hits, but it was too little, too late.

Earlier, Sanju Samson’s precision and Tilak Varma‘s muscular elegance combined as India effortlessly dismantled the South African bowling attack to post an impressive 283/1.
This total not only marked India’s highest ever T20I score overseas, but also became the highest by any team on South African soil.
Among the numerous broken records, the outstanding performance was the rare feat of two Indian batsmen scoring centuries in the same T20I innings. Samson and Varma also set the record for India’s highest ever partnership in T20Is—210 runs off just 93 balls for the second wicket.

Samson (109* off 56 balls), who had already hit a brilliant century in the first game, once again put the Proteas to the sword along with Varma (120* off 47 balls), who has been in sensational form at number three, filled along with self-confidence and dynamism.
Samson now has three T20I centuries in his last five innings, including two ducks, while Varma has scored back-to-back centuries.
Samson reached his century off 51 balls, while Varma took just 41 balls to bring up his ton – 10 balls less than his partner.
Abhishek Sharma (36 off 18 balls) also deserves credit for setting the tone in the Powerplay with four huge sixes.
On a flat pitch that offers real bounce, the Indian batsmen were in full flow and smashed a record 23 sixes. Samson’s nine maximum was just one shy of Varma’s 10.