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Hardik Pandya's powerful return stages India's emphatic win vs South Africa in Cuttack

Mayank

Hardik Pandya scored 58*(29) on his international return [Source: BCCI/X.com]Hardik Pandya scored 58*(29) on his international return [Source: BCCI/X.com]

The India vs South Africa action moved to the shortest format on December 9, as the teams faced off in the first T20I of the series in Cuttack, marking the beginning of their final stretch of T20 World Cup preparations.

Things did not go according to plan for the visiting team, as they were bundled out for just 74 runs, while chasing a good target of 175 runs, and India took the lead in the series. Here's how the proceedings panned out.

Ngidi and Sipamla strike early blows to India

Upon losing another coin toss, India was asked to bat first by South African skipper Aiden Markram, and the pace bowlers did not disappoint and got rid of the top order cheaply. Vice-captain Shubman Gill, who returned from his neck injury, tried to dance down the track and attack Lungi Ngidi, but failed to time the ball and was back to the hut for 4(2) in the first over.

Gill was followed by captain Suryakumar Yadav, who remains without a T20I fifty in 2025, after his 12(11) stay at the crease, scoring a six and a four before he was dismissed by Ngidi, chipping one straight to Marco Jansen at mid-on. Similarly, at 6.3, when Abhishek Sharma was batting at 17*(11), he tried to pull Lutho Sipamla fine behind the stumps; he had to walk back, courtesy of a blinder from Jansen, reducing India to 48/3.

Hardik leads India's fightback

Followed by Tilak Varma's 26(32) and Axar Patel's 23(21), Hardik Pandya, who returned to international cricket for the first time since the Asia Cup, took the game by the scruff of its neck and scored a 59*(28) with the help of six effortless fours and four sixes.

Shivam Dube (11 off 9) and Jitesh Sharma (10* off 5) enjoyed Pandya's blazing knock from the non-striker's end, as India finished with 175/6. Ngidi was the pick of the Proteas bowlers with 3/31 (4), while Sipamla took 2/38. Donovan Ferreira dismissed Dube in his two-over spell, conceding 13 runs. Notably, Jansen was the only bowler to concede at an economy of less than six in the innings, with a spell of 0/23 (4).

India delivers a knockout punch to the Proteas

Arshdeep Singh, like usual, turned out to be a handful in India with the new ball, as he struck early with the new ball to send Quinton de Kock back to the pavilion in the first over of the second innings on an away swinging length delivery, which was edged straight to Abhishek in the slips. The left-arm pacer returned for his second over and immediately got rid of Tristan Stubbs with a nip-backer that was edged to Jitesh.

The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 68/7 with Bumrah's 100th T20I wicket, dismissing Dewald Brevis on a back-of-a-length delivery for 22(14).

Varun Chakravarthy and Axar chipped in with 2 wickets each, while Hardik and Dube picked one each, as India went on to clinch the series opener by 101 runs, bowling out SA to their lowest-ever T20I score for just 74 runs.