Cricket: India sign off 2025 with 3-1 T20I series victory over South Africa

by Devesh Jaganath

image Cricket: India sign off 2025 with 3-1 T20I series victory over South Africa
India ended the year on a high note, beating South Africa by 30 runs in the fifth and final match of their T20I series in Ahmedabad on Friday evening. Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakaravarthy all played key roles in the match, helping the Men in Blue secure a 3-1 series victory.

All-round effort sees India secure T20I series victory against Proteas

After suffering their first Test series home loss to South Africa in over two decades, the Indian national cricket team bounced back in style, winning the ODI leg of the tour 2-1 before clinching a 3-1 victory in the T20I series this week and confirming our cricket predictions. 

The Men in Blue were asked to bat first after losing the toss at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday morning, when Sanju Samson was moved to the top of the batting order in the absence of Shubman Gill, who was ruled out of the match due to a foot injury. 

Samson and Abhishek Sharma gave the home team a solid foundation, putting on a 63-run opening stand in the first six overs before the latter was sent back to the pavilion by Corbin Bosch for 34 runs off 21 deliveries. 

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav had another disappointing outing, managing just five runs off seven balls, but he was helped out by Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya, who scored 73 (42) and 63 (25) respectively to get the side to a solid total of 231/5 in their 20 overs. 

South Africa made a promising start with Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks providing a 69-run first-wicket stand, but once Hendricks departed in the seventh over, wickets continued to drop at regular intervals, which caused the visitors to fall well behind the required run rate. 

De Kock went on to record 63 runs off 35 deliveries, but only Dewald Brevis managed to score above 20 runs in the Proteas’ top order, while captain Aiden Markram went for just six runs and Donovan Ferreira was dismissed for a Golden Duck. 

Indian bowlers shine in final T20I in Ahmedabad 

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While the Indian batters deserved plenty of praise for their performance at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday, it was their bowling unit that was most impressive, led by another masterclass performance by Varun Chakaravarthy. 

The mystery spinner bagged four wickets in his four overs and was named Player of the Series. Hardik Pandya picked up the Player of the Match award for his blistering 63-run knock and bowling figures of 1/41 in three overs. 

Arshdeep Singh was a little expensive again but claimed the key scalp of the destructive David Miller, while Jasprit Bumrah was back to his best and took two wickets while giving up a miserly 17 runs in his four-over allotment. 

India will now have around a two-week break for the festive period before commencing preparations for the series against New Zealand in January, which will also serve as a warm-up leading into the 2026 T20 World Cup, which kicks off on February 7.