Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 05:50pm on 09 Dec 2025,Tuesday Sports
Hardik Pandya's unbeaten 59 off 28 balls and crucial wicket powered India to a dominant 101-run victory over South Africa in Cuttack's series opener. Returning after 74 days from quadricep injury, Pandya rescued India from 48/3, propelling them to 175/6 with late fireworks, 71 runs in the final six overs. South Africa collapsed to their lowest-ever T20I total of 74 in 12.3 overs, surpassing their previous low of 87 against India in 2022 Rajkot. Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, and Axar Patel each claimed two wickets. Lungi Ngidi took 3/31 exploiting the challenging red-soil surface, but India's ruthless bowling secured the 1-0 series lead.(PC: X)
