India Wins T20 Series Against South Africa After Taking 5th Match By 30 Runs

Ahmedabad: India won the Twenty20 series from South Africa 3-1 after taking the last match by a comfortable 30 runs on Friday.

Second fifties in the five-match series by Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya powered India to 231-5. South Africa's chase shrivelled from 120-1 to a flattering 201-8.

Jasprit Bumrah triggered South Africa's collapse when he caught and bowled Quinton de Kock on 65 off a yorker and finished with an outstanding 2-17 from four overs.

Leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy was plundered for 23 runs in one over by de Kock and Dewald Brevis but had the last laugh with 4-53.

India earned an eighth consecutive T20 series triumph since December 2023. It hosts New Zealand in January for one last T20 series before co-hosting the men's T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka in February.

The only Indian to fail to show on Friday was, again, captain Suryakumar Yadav, who came into the match with a 2025 T20 average of 14.20 and was out softly for 5.

Sanju Samson, covering for an injured Shubman Gill, used his first T20 since October to open with Abhishek Sharma and smash 63 runs inside six overs and 97 after nine. Samson even cut down umpire Rohan Pandit with a drive into his shin.

Samson's and Abhishek's 11-runs-per-over launch was extended by Varma and Pandya, who combined for 105 in 7.2 overs until they both fell in the last over.

Varma hit a 30-ball fifty with his seventh boundary and Pandya got to fifty in 16 balls thanks to his fifth six, over deep midwicket.

Pandya was eventually caught at deep midwicket for 63 off 25 and walked off to standing ovation, followed two balls later by Varma, who ran himself out off the penultimate ball on 73 off 42.

De Kock, 65 off 35, and Brevis, 31 off 17, were mainly responsible for matching South Africa's chase with India's progress to the 10-overs halfway point.

De Kock injured his thumb taking the first delivery of the match but shrugged off the pain to make one catch, run out one, and blast his third 50-plus score in five tour matches.

South Africa was 67-0 after the powerplay and 118-1 after 10 overs, more than halfway to the target. Then Bumrah ruined the Proteas' hopes of squaring the T20 series after winning the test series and losing the one-day international series.