Hardik Pandya (63) hit the second-fastest T20I fifty for India, while Tilak Varma produced a fluent 73 as the hosts beat South Africa by 30 runs in the fifth and final contest to win the five-match T20I series 3-1 here on Friday.
Chasing a mammoth 232-run target, the Proteas managed 201-8 in 20 overs. Opener Quinton de Kock gave the visitors some hope with a blistering 65 off 35 balls before they tumbled.
Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers for India with 4-53, while pacer Jasprit Bumrah finished with figures of 2-17.
Umpire Rohan Pandit receives treatment after being hit on the knee by a Sanju Samson shot in Ahmedabad
Arshdeep Singh (1-47) and Pandya (1-41) claimed one wicket each.
Earlier, in a whirlwind knock laden with five sixes and as many fours, Pandya’s seventh half-century (63 off 25 balls) came off only 16 balls.
He put on 105 off only 44 balls in a brilliant fourth wicket partnership with Tilak, just when the momentum had slowed down for India. If Pandya produced a minute-a-mile knock, Tilak once again showed his repertoire of strokes around the ground, making 73 off 42 balls with 10 fours and a six. Pandya walked out amidst chants of his name at his former IPL home ground as out-of-sorts India captain Suryakumar Yadav (5) endured yet another failure.
It was Pandya’s brute force in the strokes that he played which stood out, sending the ball flying far nto the stands of the world’s largest stadium.
16
No. of balls taken by Hardik Pandya to score a half-century, the second-fastest by an Indian after Yuvraj Singh (12 balls)
10
No. of 200-plus totals by India batting first in 22 innings after the 2024 T20 WC, the most by any team
Six
No. of 50-plus scores for Quinton de Kock against India, the most by any player
Brief scores
India 231-5 in 20 overs (T Varma 73, H Pandya 63, S Samson 37, A Sharma 34; C Bosch 2-44) beat South Africa 201-8 in 20 overs (Q de Kock 65, D Brevis 31, V Chakravarthy 4-53, J Bumrah 2-17) by 30 runs
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