Mumbai: When in doubt, Indian batters prefer to go on the attack. It is the new way, the only way. The new India, after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma quit the T20 scene, are showing that they are ready to change the game.

In the third T20I on Wednesday at Centurion against South Africa, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma -- India’s batting southpaws – packed a punch and how.

Varma, who had been threatening to play a match-winning innings in the Indian Premier League, accomplished the feat on the big stage to become the second youngest Indian man, aged 22 years and 5 days, to score a hundred in T20Is. His 107 (56b, 8x4, 7x4) was a knock of rare class while Abhishek 50 (25b, 3x4, 5x6), who would match Travis Head shot for shot in the Sunrisers Hyderabad jersey, found form as well.

The 24-year-old Abhishek hasn’t had favourable outcomes in international cricket, except for his hundred against Zimbabwe. He totaled 70 runs in nine other T20I outings before this match. But, one thing Abhishek has not deviated from all along is his show of intent. His strike rate was still 160. Here, he scored at an SR of 200.

Abhishek had begun the series slowly with scores of 7 and 4. Despite that, his first scoring shot here was a four where he sent a Gerald Coetzee short ball packing to the mid-wicket fence. Then he made room, danced down the track and slammed Coetzee over the point boundary for a six. The left-hander kept doing that over and over again to the four pacers South Africa had picked as opposed to only two by India.

The T20 pitches up at the Highveld region have got bounce but are batting friendly. India had figured that out quickly which is why Varma, promoted in the order over Suryakumar Yadav, and Abhishek kept going for the big shots despite Sanju Samson being dismissed for a second-consecutive duck.

Abhishek gave the charge to Andile Simalane and deposited him to the grass banks over the fine leg fence. He did that to Lutho Sipamla in the next over and carted him over the cover boundary. All of it inside the Powerplay. India had raced to 70/1.

“Play freely and express yourself is the new saying for back away and slog,” Dale Steyn posted on X. The big fast bowler didn’t seem to like it. But India’s young guns didn’t care.

The quicker South Africa bowled, the faster the ball travelled to the boundary. Abhishek finally fell to a smart piece of bowling by spinner Keshav Maharaj after completing his fifty, but while he was there, he entertained.

By then, Varma had changed gears. While Abhishek had targeted the point and cover region on the off-side for his boundaries, Varma showed no bias. One thing both left-handers did well was to exploit the short square boundaries of SuperSport Park.

Varma took a heavy toll on the 15th over bowled by Maharaj, using the spin to hit a four, followed by a six and another four. He then launched into Coetzee’s next over to hit two more sixes and a four. Thirty-seven runs came in those two overs and the impact of that onslaught kept India on course for a total in excess of 200.

Varma ensured it would be comfortably achieved (219/6) by continuing to step on the gas. He brought up his maiden T20I hundred in the 19th over. The left-hander’s first fifty had come in 32 balls. The next fifty took him only 19 balls more.

“I have waited for this moment for a long time,” Varma said during his mid-innings chat with the broadcasters. “It was challenging at the start, as the pitch was two-paced to begin with. I was holding my shape and hitting. Both of us (him and Abhishek) were under pressure. We were targeting 200, 210. We got more.”

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