Tilak Varma Breaks Virat Kohli’s Record Of Scoring Most Runs For India In A Bilateral T20I Series – News18

Last Updated:November 17, 2024, 06:40 IST

In four matches of the recently concluded T20I series between India and South Africa, Tilak scored 280 runs for the Suryakumar Yadav-led side.

Tilak Varma was on fire for India in the recently concluded four-match T20I series against South Africa, which the visitors won with a score line of 3-1 on Friday (November 15). The 22-year-old left-handed batter from Hyderabad, who made his T20I debut for India last year, scored 280 runs in four matches, which helped him create the record of scoring most runs in a bilateral T20I series for India.

He broke Virat Kohli’s record, who amassed a total of 231 runs in five matches played against England in March 2021.

Most runs in a bilateral T20I series for India

In the series opener played at Kingsmead in Durban, Tilak scored 33 runs from 18 balls, and he followed it up with 20 runs from as many balls in Gqeberha. In the last two T20Is played at SuperSport Park and The Wanderers Stadium, he scored 107 and 120 runs and remained unbeaten on both occasions.

Tilak is the second Indian after Sanju Samson and the overall fifth batter in the world to score back-to-back in T20Is.

For his super show with the bat, Tilak won Player of the Match awards in the last two T20Is and also the Player of the Series award. He is the youngest Indian cricketer to win the Player of the Series award in T20Is.

During his stay at the crease in Johannesburg on Friday (November 15), Tilak hammered 10 sixes to score 120 runs from 47 balls. The 10 sixes helped him equal Rohit and Samson’s record of scoring most sixes in a T20I match for India, and he now also holds the record of scoring most runs for India in a T20I match against South Africa and also in an India-South Africa T20I as well.

In the fourth and final T20I of the series, Tilak also added 210 runs for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (109*), which helped the duo become the first Indian batting pair to add more than 200 runs for any wicket in a T20I match. Before them, the record for the highest partnership for India in a T20I match was in the name of Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh, who added 190 runs for the fifth wicket against Afghanistan during a T20I match played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on January 17, 2022.