India vs South Africa, 5th T20I, South Africa tour of India, 2025 - Player Highlights

Ottneil Baartman to Hardik Pandya, out Caught by Reeza Hendricks!! Low full toss, smashed flat and straight to Reeza at deep mid-wicket to stun the home crowd. But they quickly get up to applaud one of the finest innings for India in this format. It's Tilak's turn now to give his senior a hug and Hardik holds his bat and head high as he walks off. So to the dismissal again. Hardik moved a bit too far across the line so this ball ended up being on the leg-side for him. Had he not gone that far across, would have held a better base to get more power. That's the game of small margins for you. Great entertainment anyway! Hardik Pandya c Reeza Hendricks b Ottneil Baartman 63(25) [4s-5 6s-5]

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, 2 runs, great yorker forcing Hardik to get his left boot out of the way to avoid damage, but he still manages to flick it in the gap at deep square leg for a couple

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, no run, smart from Marco Jansen to bowl pace off and across Hardik at length. Hardik was looking for a full or short ball. Tried to adjust for the inbetween length but missed it

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, no run, Hardik Pandya has smashed this yorker so hard but straight into the stumps. Was a certain four, denied by the stumps

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, 2 runs, he's almost mercilessly flicked this yorker for four as well. This ball was heading towards the boot, he quickly moved out of the way to flick to deep square leg

Ngidi to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, manages to drive this to extra-cover

Ngidi to Hardik Pandya, wide, oh that's a harsh call for wide. Ngidi again has deceived Hardik Pandya with a slower delivery that dipped low, luckily for Hardik it wasn't on the stumps and finished down leg. But had Hardik not moved inside the line, would have hit the pad so the wide is a bit harsh

Ngidi to Hardik Pandya, FOUR, edged and it flies past the keeper's dive. The bowler has actually won a mini battle with the batter by bowling a well-directed slower delivery to force an edge. But Hardik swung hard to get a thick edge and QdK couldn't get there even with a full length dive

Ngidi to Hardik Pandya, no run, another slower delivery that is very well bowled and beats Hardik now

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, no run. yorker outside off stump, Hardik squeezes it out nicely but picks out backward point

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, SIX, hey, hey! This is unkind on the bowler. Corbin Bosch has almost got the yorker right. Wasn't really a slot ball and needed high skill and this man is a monster with technique - a rare breed. He found a way to still quickly keep his front leg out of the way and flick fiercely over mid-wicket for a flat six and a 16-ball fifty - the second fastest for India in T20Is after Yuvraj Singh. The Ahmedabad crowd is in full voice and Hardik raises the bat before blowing a few kisses

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, no run, short of length delivery just outside off stump, Hardik tries to play one of those swag late dabs over the keeper but misses

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, FOUR, Corbin Bosch fails to nail the yorker again and Hardik, because he's standing so deep, is able to get under it and play and absolute hammer drive down the ground to give long-on and long-off no chance

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, SIX, he's been smashing good balls for fun and Corbin Bosch has run in and dished out a belt me please full toss. Hardik said thank you very much and lofted this 85 metres deep over mid-wicket

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, 2 runs, wide yorker, squeezed out to deep backward point and it's an over with no boundaries. Good planning from Marco. Constantly changed his lengths

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, back and across and ready for anything that Marco Jansen misses but the bowler smartly digs this short to change the length completely, mistimed pull results to long-on

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, goes deep in the crease to get under the yorker but could only drill this to long-on

Marco Jansen to Hardik Pandya, 2 runs, Marco bowls the full slower delivery, Hardik plays a nice straight drive. Man at long-on slides across to save two runs

Ngidi to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, full and outside off stump, Hardik wants to muscle it again, mistimes the drive to deep cover

Linde to Hardik Pandya, FOUR, Linde is a scrambled bowler at the moment. He switches to trying the full length outside off stump but Hardik gets under it and gives it an absolute smack for a crack along the ground through cover. 27 off that over and Hardik is 31 off 7

Linde to Hardik Pandya, SIX, oh wowww! The no look smack over mid-wicket. He's forced an emergency meeting for the Proteas. They have no idea how to stop this audacious assault. Linde backed himself to try and dart at the stumps. Normally it's not so easy to get under these flatter trajectory balls but Hardik had his front leg out of the way again to access the on-side and played that with a lot of swag

Linde to Hardik Pandya, SIX, that's a stunner! He's played a get out of my sight lofted cover drive and that too off the back foot. Just walks away after making contact as if he didn't put any effort into it. Linde tried to fire this full, offered only a tiny bit of width but Hardik at the moment is hazardous for the Proteas

Linde to Hardik Pandya, FOUR, he's in the mood! He wants to have a lot of fun. Linde fires this at 94.5 in hope of not allowing Hardik to have a free swing, but such is Hardik's bat speed and technique that he's able to quickly get the front leg out of the way and still drag the pull wide of long-on despite the length not being really short or full

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, FOUR, Hardik has come out ultra aggressive! Steps out and forces the Corbin Bosch to drop it short, but that doesn't stop himself from playing the pull shot in front of square and perfectly picks the spot to the left of deep mid-wicket

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, drilled to cover and there's a fumble, single conceded

Corbin Bosch to Hardik Pandya, SIX, difficult to time the ball? What? Makes an absolute mockery by stepping out and play a swag lofted drive flat for six over mid-off. Oh dear, the ball has hit a cameraman flush on the left arm under the shoulder. He was focussing on the Indian dugout and wasn't aware of the incoming ball. Immediately the physios and the docs give him an icepack and the impact spot has become red