IND Vs SA 5th T20I: India Seal Series By 3-1 With 30-Run Win

Hyderabad: India won the five-match T20I series against South Africa by 3-1 with a 30-run win in the fifth T20I at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Tilak Varma (73) and Hardik Pandya (63) scored fifties while Varun Chakravarthy picked four wickets.

South Africa had a mammoth target of 232 ahead of them. Openers Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks (13) provided them with a solid launchpad amassing 69 runs from 6.3 overs for the opening wicket. Dewald Brevis walked in at No. 3 and scored 31 runs from 17 deliveries while Quinton racked up 65 runs from just 35 deliveries. South Africa were scoring at a run rate of more than 10 and were at 120/1 from 10.2 overs before a brief collapse hit them. From 120/1, they were reduced to 177/8 as Varun Chakravarthy bowled an impressive spell.

However, South Africa were playing with an aggressive scoring rate and they needed 55 runs to win from last four overs. However, tidy bowling from Bumrah in the death overs ensured a 30-run win for India. Chakravarthy picked four wickets while Bumrah scalped two wickets.

Earlier in the match, South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl. The opening duo of Abhishek Sharma (34) and Samson provided a flying start to the team, accumulating 63 runs from just 5.4 overs before the former was dismissed. Samson (37) was dismissed after adding 34 runs for the second wicket with Tilak Varma.

Suryakumar was sent back to the pavilion by Corbin Bosch after scoring just five runs, but the duo of Hardik Pandya and Tilak took charge of the things, smacking the bowlers to all parts of the ground. Tilak was building the innings steadily while Hardik was scripting an unbelievable carnage. The duo added 105 runs from 44 deliveries fourth wicket, as Pandya was dismissed after racking up 63 runs from just 25 deliveries, laced with five sixes. Also, Pandya completed 2000 runs in T20I cricket.

Tilak scored 73 runs from 42 deliveries. Shivam Dube smashed an unbeaten 10 runs from three deliveries. A collective effort from the Indian batting unit ensured that the team registered their second-highest T20I total at the venue. Corbin Bosch was the pick of the bowlers taking two wickets in his spell while conceding 44 runs.