India vs South Africa 5th T20I: Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakaravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah deliver series win in Ahmedabad

India managed to end 2025 on a high, courtesy their series-clinching 30-run win over South Africa in the final T20I at Ahmedabad on Friday (December 19). Put into bat, India posted a strong total of 231 on the back of fifties from Tilak Varma (73 off 42) and Hardik Pandya (63 off 25). South Africa threatened to put up a fight but Varun Chakaravarthy (4-53) and Jasprit Bumrah (2-17) doused the fire in style.

Sanju Samson's return was major talking point at the start of the game and the Kerala batter looked fluent in his 22-ball 37 but unable to carry on. Abhishek Sharma with a 22-ball 34 looked equally ominous but wasn't able to bat deep. On a true batting surface, Tilak and Hardik combined to take South Africa's bowlers to the cleaners. Hardik in particular looked in unstoppable mood tonight.

The Hardik-Tilak stand was a game-defining one as they added 105 from just 44 deliveries. This partnership was what made a potential 200-210 total to the eventual score of 231. However, Quinton de Kock looked in deadly touch during his 35-ball 65 and seemed to ignite serious firepower into the chase.

Dewald Brevis (31 off 17) combined with de Kock for a 51-run stand after the latter had added 69 for the opening stand with a struggling Reeza Hendricks. From a comfortable 120/1 at the halfway mark, the visitors lost the plot against the guile of Chakaravarthy. It was Bumrah who broke the deadlock initially, with the wicket of his Mumbai Indians teammate de Kock.

Chakaravarthy then sliced through South Africa's middle order as the score read 135-5 in no time. The game was virtually over by this point, despite the depth in the Proteas batting unit. They kept losing wickets in the attempt of catching up with the required rate. In the end, it was a bridge too far for the tourists as India pocketed the five-match series 3-1.