Johannesburg: Batsman Tilak Verma broke veteran Virat Kohli's record of most runs scored by an Indian player in a T20 bilateral series. Verma achieved this feat during the fourth and final T20 match against South Africa in Johannesburg. Tilak performed brilliantly and scored unbeaten 120 runs with the help of nine fours and 10 sixes in just 47 balls at an extraordinary strike rate of 255.32. With a century in the last match, Tilak finished the series as the top run-scorer and was awarded 'Player of the Series'.
He scored 280 runs in four matches at an impressive average of 140 and a strike rate of over 198, including two centuries. This remarkable achievement gave him the record of scoring the most runs by a player in a T20 bilateral series. Tilak overtook Virat Kohli, who scored 231 runs in the five-match series against England at an average of 115.50 and a strike rate of 147.13 with three half-centuries and a top score of 80*. In the match, India won the toss and decided to bat first. After Abhishek Sharma's quickfire innings of 36 runs off 18 balls with the help of two fours and four sixes, Tilak (120* off 47 balls) and Sanju Samson (109* off 56 balls with the help of six fours and nine sixes) remained unbeaten. Destroyed the South African bowling attack with a partnership of 210 runs.
This effort took India to a mammoth total of 283/1. In reply, South Africa struggled to deal with the scoreboard pressure. Apart from brief resistance from Tristan Stubbs (43 runs off 29 balls, three fours and two sixes) and David Miller (36 runs off 27 balls, two fours and three sixes), no other batsman made any significant contribution. South Africa were all out for 148 in 18.2 overs, suffering their biggest defeat in T20Is by 135 runs. Arshdeep Singh was the best bowler of India, who took 3 wickets for 20 runs. Varun Chakraborty and Axar Patel took two wickets each, while Ravi Bishnoi, Ramandeep Singh and Hardik Pandya took one wicket each.
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