India rode on an unbeaten half-century by Hardik Pandya to crush South Africa by 101 runs in the first of their five-match T20 International Series at the jam-packed Barabati Stadium in Cuttack tonight. Pandya hit a 28-ball unbeaten 59 (4x6, 6x4) and picked up one wicket for 16 runs to be adjudged as the player of the match.

Put into bat on a tricky wicket, India recovered from three for 48 to compile a challenging total of 175 for six. In reply, South Africa were bundled out for a paltry 74 in 12.3 overs. Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumbra, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel claimed two wickets each for India.

SCORECARD

INDIA: Abhishek Sharma c Jansen b Sipamla 17, Shubman Gill c Jansen b Ngidi 4, Suryakumar Yadav (c) c Markram b Ngidi 12, Tilak Varma c Jansen b Ngidi 26, Axar Patel c Ferreira b Sipamla 23, Hardik Pandya not out 59, Shivam Dube b Ferreira 11, Jitesh Sharma (wk) not out 10; Extras (b-4, w-9) 13
Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 175
Did not bat: Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Gill, 0.3 overs), 2-17 (Yadav, 2.4), 3-48 (A Sharma, 6.3), 4-78 (Varma, 11.4), 5-104 (Patel, 13.6), 6-137 (Dube, 17.1)
Bowling: Lungi Ngidi 4-0-31-3, Marco Jansen 4-0-23-0, Lutho Sipamla 4-0-38-2, Anrich Nortje 4-0-41-0, Keshav Maharaj 2-0-25-0, Donovan Ferreira 2-0-13-1.

SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wk) c A Sharma b Arshdeep 0, Aiden Markram (c) b Patel 14, Tristan Stubbs c J Sharma b Arshdeep 14, Dewald Brevis c Yadav b Bumrah 22, David Miller c J Sharma b Pandya 1, Donovan Ferreira c J Sharma b Chakravarthy 5, Marco Jansen b Chakravarthy 12, Keshav Maharaj c J Sharma b Bumrah 0, Anrich Nortje b Patel 1, Lutho Sipamla c A Sharma b Dube 2, Lungi Ngidi not out 2; Extras (w-1) 1
Total (All out, 12.3 overs) 74
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (De Kock, 0.2 overs), 2-16 (Stubbs, 2.3), 3-40 (Markram, 5.1), 4-45 (Miller, 6.1), 5-50 (Ferreira, 7.2), 6-68 (Jansen, 9.5), 7-68 (Brevis, 10.2), 8-70 (Maharaj, 10.5), 9-72 (Nortje, 11.2), 10-74 (Sipamla, 12.3)
Bowling: Arshdeep Singh 2-0-14-2, Jasprit Bumrah 3-0-17-2, Varun Chakravarthy 3-1-19-2, Axar Patel 2-0-7-2, Hardik Pandya 2-0-16-1, Shivam Dube 0.3-0-1-1.
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PHOTO: Player of the match Hardik Pandya in action during the India-South Africa 1st T20 International at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on 9 December 2025.