JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Unbeaten centuries by Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson blitzed India to a 283-1 total against South Africa and a massive Twenty20 win on Friday.
The pressure in the chase was too much for South Africa, which was all out for 148 with 10 balls left.
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India's Arshdeep Singh reacts after bowling a delivery during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Sanju Samson, left, celebrates with batting partner Tilak Varma after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Sanju Samson plays a shot during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Sanju Samson celebrates after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Tilak Varma watches the ball after playing a shot during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Tilak Varma celebrates after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Tilak Varma celebrates after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Six bowlers took wickets, led by medium-pacer Arshdeep Singh's 3-20 in 15 deliveries, as India won by 135 runs and completed a 3-1 series win.
But Varma and Samson stole the show at Wanderers.
Varma top-scored with 120 not out off 47 balls. That made him only the second India batter after Samson to score back-to-back T20 centuries, and the fifth batter ever.
Samson scored 109 not out off 56 balls, his second century of the series and third in five T20 innings. He became the first batter to score three T20 centuries in a calendar year, and the second batter to notch two hundreds in the same bilateral tournament.
Together, they blasted 210 runs off 86 balls for the second wicket, hitting 19 sixes and 15 boundaries.
Theirs was the highest T20 partnership for India for any wicket. It was also the highest T20 partnership against South Africa, and the highest for the second wicket or lower in all T20s.
After India chose to bat first, Samson and Abhishek Sharma opened with 73 off 35 balls, setting the stage.
Sharma was dropped before he scored and scored 36 off 18 balls, including four sixes, before falling to Lutho Sipamla as the lone wicket of the innings.
Samson reached 50 off 28 balls with five fours and three sixes. He accelerated to his hundred off 51 balls — the second 50 coming off 23 balls with another five sixes and three fours.
Only Rohit Sharma (five) and Suryakumar Yadav (four) have more T20 hundreds for India.
Varma wasn’t shaded. He raced to 50 off 22 balls with five sixes and four fours, and the next 50 came off 19 balls with four more sixes.
The duo racked up 100 runs off 40 balls, and doubled it in another 42 deliveries.
It was the third time two batters scored individual hundreds in the same T20 innings — and the first instance between full member sides.
It was also the second highest T20 total between full member sides — India scored the highest, 297-6, against Bangladesh in Hyderabad last month, when Samson posted his first of three centuries.
Singh quickly gave South Africa no hope in the chase.
He bowled Reeza Hendricks for a two-ball duck, and skipper Aiden Markram was out caught for 8.
Hardik Pandya sent back Ryan Rickelton for 1, and South Africa was down to 10-4 in three overs when Singh dismissed Heinrich Klaasen lbw for a golden duck.
Tristan Stubbs and David Miller (36) resisted with an 86-run partnership off 54 balls, but it was never going to be enough. Stubbs top-scored with 43 off 29 balls.
Marco Jansen provided a late flourish with 29 not out off 12 balls.
Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy picked 2-42 to finish with 12 wickets in the four-match series.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
India's Arshdeep Singh reacts after bowling a delivery during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Sanju Samson, left, celebrates with batting partner Tilak Varma after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Sanju Samson plays a shot during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Sanju Samson celebrates after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Tilak Varma watches the ball after playing a shot during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Tilak Varma celebrates after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India's Tilak Varma celebrates after scoring a century during the fourth T20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.
The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.
Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.
Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.
Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”
About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.
But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.
Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.
Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”
Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, front left, speak with each other during a group photo at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte look at each other as they deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with his wife Jeanette at Malmo Airport, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Malmo-Sturup, Sweden, ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
