Tilak ton, three-for put India 2-1

India 219 for 6 (Tilak 107, Abhishek 50, Simelane 2-34) beat South Africa 208 for 7 (Jansen 54, Arshdeep 3-37) by 11 runs

Tilak Varma became India's second centurion in the space of six days and ensured they cannot lose the four-match T20I series. They lead 2-1 with the final match to be played on Friday, and the hosts left with only the option of a draw. South Africa have not won a bilateral T20I series since beating Ireland 2-0 in August 2022 and have lost five and drawn two series in that time.

At a time when the next major tournament is 15 months away, and with the knowledge they reached this year's T20 World Cup final, that may not worry South Africa much. But there will be questions over their depth and some of their strategies after they conceded heavily and stumbled in the chase for the second time this series.

South Africa's seam strength without Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, is, as expected, inexperienced. It showed in a messy display at Supersport Park which included 10 wides and three no-balls. Those numbers pale in comparison to that of Tilak, who, at 22 years and five days old, became India's second youngest centurion after Yashasvi Jaiswal, and took just 51 balls to get to his hundred. 

He shared a 107-run second-wicket stand with Abhishek Sharma, and a 58-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rinku Singh, in which Tilak contributed 45. Though India were set for a total above 240, after bringing up 100 in the ninth over, Tilak still made sure they had enough.