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In a near-historic feat, Tilak Varma's exemplary performance almost etched his name in the record books during the final T20I showdown against the West Indies on Sunday, August 13. The action-packed contest unfurled at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, located in Lauderhill, Florida.
By the end of the five-match series, the left-handed dynamo had piled up 173 runs, boasting an impressive average of 57.66 coupled with a brisk strike rate of 140.65. This staggering tally positions Varma as the third-highest run-scorer in a bilateral T20I series between India and the Caribbean giants.
Reflecting on past glories, Nicholas Pooran's 184 runs during the 2021-22 series remain unparalleled, averaging 61.33. In the Indian camp, the iconic Virat Kohli holds the mantle. He had thundered 183 runs during the 2019-20 series against the West Indies, registering a strike rate of an astounding 190.62 and maintaining an average of 183.
Diving deeper into the statistics, Varma's recent heroics place him sixth among Indian batsmen scoring the most runs in a bilateral T20I series against any competing nation. Here too, Kohli emerges as the gold standard, having notched up a mammoth 231 runs in a five-match contest against England in the 2020-21 series.
The decider on Sunday saw Varma stepping up to the crease in the No.4 slot, following India's decision to set the scoreboard rolling. Beginning his innings with calculated singles and doubles, Varma soon unleashed his explosive side against Alzarri Joseph. The crowd witnessed a blitz in the sixth over as Varma dispatched the bowler with sequences of 4, 6, 4, and 4. Not stopping there, he sent Jason Holder's delivery soaring over long-off for another six.
However, the high-flying innings met an untimely end when Varma was caught and bowled by Roston Chase in the subsequent over. With a tally of 27 runs off 18 balls, inclusive of three boundaries and a couple of sixes, Varma capped off the T20I series, leaving a significant mark of his prowess.
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