Pandya blitz too hot for SA as India cruise to series win

A 25-ball 63 set the match up before Varun and Bumrah picked up wickets to lead India to victory

- Somshuvra Laha

T20s are rarely one-sided, but on days when India bat like there is no tomorrow, the result can be a foregone conclusion. South Africa tried though, giving 231/5 a mighty chase riding a fifty from Quinton de Kock and some big hitting from Dewald Brevis. But the occasion and the scenario were bound to get big on them as ‘Varun Chakravarthy took 4/53 to carve a 30-run win for India and seal the five-match series 3-1 in ‘Ahmedabad on Friday.

South Africa probably got it wrong at the toss, trusting the dew factor to choose chasing. That allowed India to unleash a carnage so brutal that it left South Africa’s bowlers too dazzled to react.

Wrecker-in-chief was Hardik Pandya, hammering a 25-ball 63, adding 105 runs in 44 balls for the fourth wicket with Tilak Varma who anchored the innings with 42-ball 73. Abhishek Sharma set up the innings with a typically quick 21-ball 34 and Sanju Samson — playing instead of the injured Shubman Gill — too played his part with a 22-ball 37 on the eve of India’s selection for the T20 World Cup.