India Vs South Africa 5th T20I: Tilak Varma Hits Fifty As His Love Affair With Proteas Continues

It has now become very obvious that Tilak Varma loves scoring runs against South Africa as the Hyderabad-born batter brought up his 6th T20I half-century in the 5th and series concluding match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

This was also Tilak Varma's 2nd half-century against the Rainbow nation in this series. The left-hand batter had a score of 62 runs in the 3rd T20I at Chandigarh, where India won 51 runs and claimed a 2-1 lead.

After the 4th T20I got abandoned due to poor visibility in Lucknow, Tilak picked up from where he left in the 3rd encounter. He arrived at the crease following the departure of opening batter Sanju Samson, who scored 37 off 22 on his return to the Indian side after nearly 2 months.

Tilak had a relatively slower start, but once he got into the groove, there was no stopping him. After his 18-run stand with skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak stitched a solid 90+ partnership with all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

Their swashbuckling partnership helped India cross the 200-mark within the 18th over.

Tilak Varma's Love Affair With South Africa Continues

Tilak Varma has developed an extraordinary record against South Africa and has established himself as their most productive opponent in T20Is.

He boasts a staggering average of 70.50 against the Proteas, which is the highest by any Indian batter against a single opponent (minimum 300 runs), even surpassing Virat Kohli’s famous record against Pakistan.

Both of Tilak Varma's centuries in the shortest format has come against the South Africans.

He smashed two consecutive centuries during the 2024 tour of South Africa -- 107* in Centurion and then 120* in Johannesburg.