India delivered a clinical all-round display to hand South Africa 101-run defeat in the first T20I at the Barabati Stadium on Wednesday and take a 1-0 lead. In a match played under packed night conditions, India served a power-packed batting finish following up with a ruthless bowling exhibition as the South African innings lasted only 12.3 overs.

India also having been put into bat reached a decent score of 175 for six batsmen, thanks to some fine recovery after early wickets. The innings did not start well for India as Shubman Gill was dismissed for 4 and captain Suryakumar Yadav followed shortly to dumped India on 17 for 2. Abhishek Sharma looked fluent during his 17 off 12 before he fell, too, and Tilak Varma never really found rhythm in his innings of 26 from 32 balls as India searched for momentum. It did in the end, and through the brilliance of Hardik Pandya as he played one of his best T20I knocks.

Walking in at 78 for 4, Hardik unleashed a counterattack, scoring 59 of 28 balls with six fours and four sixes. His strike rate of 210.71 turned the game entirely in India’s favour. Handy contributions from Axar Patel (23 off 21) and a late burst from Jitesh Sharma (10 off 5) helped India to a modest total. Lungi Ngidi was the pick of South Africa’s bowlers with 3 for 31, while Sipamla had two scalps.

South Africa’s chase never got going as Indian bowlers struck with ruthless precision. Arshdeep Singh had the visitors on the backfoot when he dismissed Quinton de Kock for a duck and they never really recovered from that. Dewald Brevis alone showed any fight with a breezy 22 off 14, and St Tristan Stubbs contributed to the struggle with been limited in size or creativity to push India’s total. The middle-order imploded, Miller, Ferreira and Jansen all departing for very little as South Africa crashed from 40 for 3 to 68 for 7. India’s spin and pace duo worked in tandem, with Axar Patel (2 for 7), Varun Chakaravarthy (2 for 19) Bumrah (2 for 17) and Arshdeep Singh (2 for 14) being among the wickets. Shivam Dube ended the innings with a wicket off his first delivery.

South Africa collapsed to reach only 74 runs, one of their poorest T20I totals. India are well and truly ahead in this series, augmented by a comprehensive win that should give them the confidence to push for another in Pune.