Tilak Varma, on January 25 (Saturday), broke the world record for most runs in T20Is without getting dismissed, while propelling India to a stunning two-wicket victory in the second T20I in Chennai.
Having scored 19*, 120* and 107* in his previous three T20I outings, the left-hander crafted 72* off 55 deliveries at Chepauk to single-handedly give India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Tilak now has 318 runs in T20Is without getting out.
The record previously belonged to New Zealand's Mark Chapman, who had scored 271 runs without being dismissed. Shreyas Iyer (240), Aaron Finch (240) and David Warner (239) are next on the list.
Tilak, however, is yet to be dismissed and will get another opportunity in the third T20I to extend this record.
Those two centuries in South Africa were phenomenal, but this was a knock he would be extremely proud of. The 22-year-old batted with tremendous maturity and showed immense temperament in a pressure run-chase.
India were set a target of 166 on a surface that had enough assistance for spinners and seamers. While spinners did most of the damage for the Men in Blue in the first innings, with them bowling a total of 14 out of 20 overs, it was England's tall and strong fast bowlers who made things extremely difficult for India in the second innings.
The likes of Brydon Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton bowled with some serious pace on a Chepauk surface and dismissed Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dhruv Jurel and Hardik Pandya with 78 runs on board. The England fast bowlers kept hitting the length and India kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with Tilak being left alone at one end.
The left-hander started his innings on a slower note, scoring 2 off 6 deliveries, but then took the attack to Archer in the fourth over. Tilak whacked Archer for two sixes and a four in the space of four deliveries and then greeted Carse with another maximum.
Tilak raced to 26 off 15; however, he had to slow down and play chance-less cricket for a while because India lost some quick wickets. The young batter put on 38 runs for the sixth wicket alongside Washington Sundar (26 off 19), allowing him to dominate the partnership.
But once Washington was dismissed by Carse, and Axar Patel got out playing a reckless shot, Tilak took charge and proved his mettle as a white-ball batter. It was once again Archer who felt the wrath of Tilak's willow. The hosts needed 40 from the last five overs, and Tilak slammed two sixes in Archer's over and collected 19 runs from it.
The left-hander used the pace of England's fast bowlers to perfection, scoring 53 runs behind the wicket. That's right, almost 75 percent of his total runs came from behind the stumps.
Arshdeep Singh (6 off 4) and Ravi Bishnoi (9* off 5) did give him some support down the order, but it was Tilak who rightly stole all the limelight. His shot selection against both fast bowlers and spinners was beyond perfect, using the flick, hook, late cut and reverse sweep to his advantage. It was eventually a cover drive off Overton that got India over the line in the final over.
"The wicket was slightly two-paced. I was talking with Gautam sir yesterday, he said whatever happens, you should play according to the situation. If team needs ten an over, you should take charge, if something else, you should stand till the end," said Tilak, who ended with four fours and five maximums and was named Player of the Match.
Tilak now averages 58.92 after 21 T20I innings, but his numbers at No.3 are even more impressive - 419 runs in 11 innings @ 69.83 and a strike rate of 171.
Rohit Sharma called him an "all-format" player a couple of years ago, and the 22-year-old has already aced the 20-over format at the international level. There are two more formats to go, and it might not be too long before Tilak cements his place in the ODI and Test set-ups too.