ridge, 9 December. While all-rounder Hardik Pandya celebrated his return to Team India with an explosive half-century (59 not out, 28 balls, four sixes, six fours) at the Barabati Stadium on Tuesday night, the bowlers completed the rest of the work in front of the challenging target and tied South Africa’s bundle. As a result, India made a great start to their T20 World Cup preparations by defeating the Proteas by 101 runs in the first T20 International of the five-match series.
Dominant India go 1-0 up in the five-match T20I series against the Proteas #INDvSA
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— ICC (@ICC) December 9, 2025
, South African innings was reduced to 74 against the target of 176 runs.
The hosts, who lost the coin toss, posted a strong score of 175 runs for six wickets with the help of Pandya’s stormy innings despite losing six wickets at 137 with only 17 balls remaining. In retaliation, the bowlers restricted South Africa to 74 runs in 12.3 overs.
An emphatic win in the #INDvSA T20I series opener
#TeamIndia register a 1⃣0⃣1⃣-run victory in Cuttack to go 1⃣-0⃣ up
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@IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/mw3oxC5AHw
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 9, 2025
India’s second biggest win in terms of runs against South Africa
If seen, this is India’s second biggest win in terms of runs against South Africa. India had earlier defeated South Africa by 135 runs in November 2024. This is South Africa’s smallest score in T20 International.
and counting!
Congratulations to Jasprit Bumrah on completing 1⃣0⃣0⃣ T20I wickets
#TeamIndia just one wicket away from victory!
Updates
#INDvSA , @IDFCFIRSTBank , @Jaspritbumrah93 pic.twitter.com/9BwAd1UTdu
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 9, 2025
and counting! 
Arshdeep, Bumrah, Varun and Akshar divided 8 wickets among themselves.
In the South African innings, only Dewald Brevis (22 runs, 14 balls, one six, three fours) could cross the 20 mark in front of Arshdeep Singh (2-14), Jasprit Bumrah (2-17), Varun Chakraborty (2-19) and Axar Patel (2-7). Apart from them, captain Aiden Markram (14 runs, 14 balls, one six, two fours), Tristan Stubbs (14 runs, nine balls, two fours) and Marco Jansen (12 runs, 12 balls, two sixes) reached double figures. Hardik Pandya (1-16) and Shivam Dubey (1-1) also got one success each.
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5⃣9⃣* with the bat
1⃣/1⃣6⃣ with the ballFor his impactful all-round show, Hardik Pandya is the Player of the Match.
score card
#TeamIndia , #INDvSA , @hardikpandya7 , @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/4h9qRD2T3L
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 9, 2025
Before this, the Indian team was struggling, losing four top batsmen at 78 in the 12th over. But ‘Player of the Match’ Pandya, who is playing his first international match after returning from injury after the Asia Cup, made an important contribution in taking India to a big score by hitting his sixth T20 International fifty.
Except Pandya, other batsmen could not go far.
Apart from Pandya, Tilak Verma (26 runs, 32 balls, one six, two fours), Akshar Patel (23 runs, 21 balls, one six), Abhishek Sharma (17 runs, 12 balls, one six, two fours) failed to play big innings despite spending time at the crease. Shubman Gill (four runs) and captain Suryakuma Yadav (12 runs, 11 balls, one six, one four), who returned after recovering from injury, disappointed.
The second match will be played in New Chandigarh on December 11.
For South Africa, pacer Lungi Ngidi took three wickets for 31 runs. Lutho Sipamla got two while Donovan Ferreira got one success. Both the teams will now play the second match on December 11 at the Maharaja Yadvinder Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.
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