India cricket team added yet another series win to their resume as they beat South Africa by 30 runs to win the IND vs SA 5th T20I. But the win wasn’t an easy one, at least it didn’t look so initially during the Proteas’ run-chase. With just 6 games left to go for the T20 World Cup 2026, the batters did ace their roles, taking the SA bowlers to the cleaners. However, it was the weakness of the bowlers that once again came to the fore, especially during and a little after the powerplay.
India’s initial bowling woes
South Africa got off to a flying start in their run-chase of 232 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks went all guns blazing at the top of the order, taking Arshdeep Singh to the cleaners. India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is conceded 35 runs in the powerplay, the most by him in the IND vs SA T20i series. SA raced past fifty runs in just 3.3 overs.
Eventually, Varun Chakravarthy got the first breakthrough in the 7th over, finally putting an end to the partnership between the SA openers. While Hendricks was the first to depart, de Kock and Dewald Brevis continued to pile up pressure on the Indian bowlers as they went bonkers with a boundary striking spree.
Bumrah then sprung into action to get rid of de Kock – a soft dismissal via caught and bowled. Wickets then fell in quick succession, with Hardik Pandya getting rid of Brevis, Chakravarthy dismissing Markram and Ferreira in successive deliveries in the 13th over. Arshdeep got his first wicket of the game in the 15th over while Varun added another wicket to his tally in the 16th.
Eventually, India breathed a sigh of relief as they wrapped up the game with ease. Varun finished with 4 wickets to his name, Bumrah with 2, and one each for Pandya and Arshdeep. While the hosts did manage to pull back the game after losing control initially, their powerplay struggle is very hard to ignore.
India batters do nothing wrong
Put in to bat first, Samson and Abhishek Sharma provided the perfect start for India. Making his return to the playing XI by the virtue of Gill missing out, the Kerala keeper-batter slammed 37 runs off 22 deliveries. While captain SKY faced yet another failure, it was Tilak Varma (73) and Hardik (63 off 25 balls) who took matters into their own hands. Pandya slammed the second fastest fifty by an Indian, taking just 16 deliveries to breach the fifty-run mark. Eventually, India finished with 231/5.
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