Tilak Varma's brilliant maiden T20I century fired India to an 11-run win over South Africa to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Marco Jansen threatened to ruin Varma's perfect night with his power batting, but the hosts fell short, making 208/7 in response to India's 219/6 at the Centurion.
Varma showed great commitment in the field, too, as he made a couple of spectacular efforts to prevent boundaries in the South African chase. Pacer Arshdeep Singh was instrumental in tilting the advantage back in India's favour by removing Klaasen and Jansen; the latter rapped on the pads in a dramatic final over. Jansen had punished Indian bowling with a 17-ball 54 after Klaasen's 22-ball 41.
Left-hander Varma, too, had smashed the ball all around in his unbeaten 107 off 56 balls. Varma's blitzkrieg included seven maximums and eight boundaries. Opener Abhishek Sharma hit a 25-ball 50 before being dismissed by Keshav Maharaj, who also removed Hardik Pandya.
Aiden Markram had won the toss for the third time in the series, and the hosts made a dream start when Marco Jansen clean-bowled Sanju Samson for a duck in the second ball. It was Sanju's consecutive dismissal for a duck in T20Is.
Right-arm pacer Lutho Sipamla, who was the only change for the hosts, went for 45 in his four overs without a reward. India's only change was Ramandeep Singh, who Hardik Pandya had handed his India cap before the toss.
Brief scores: India 219/6 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma, 107 not out, Abhishek Sharma 50, Keshav Maharaj 2/36, Andile Simelane 2/34) beat SA 208/7 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 41, Marco Jansen 54, Arshdeep Singh 3/37, Varun Chakravarthy 2/54) by 11 runs.
