Pandya''s blazing fifty, ruthless bowlers earn India 101-run win over SA
Cuttack (PTI): Hardik Pandya made a memorable comeback to competitive cricket, striking a mood-lifting unbeaten fifty and then took a key wicket as India etched a dominant 101-run win over South Africa in the opening match of the five-match series here on Tuesday.
The victory helped India take a 1-0 lead in the rubber and it also pushed South Africa to their lowest-ever T20I total. Their previous lowest was also against India -- 87 all out in Rajkot in 2022.
India had been pushed onto the back-foot after SA asked them to bat first on a tacky red-soil surface, but Pandya’s commanding 59 not out off 28 balls rescued them from early turbulence. India posted a competitive 175/6.
On a pitch that demanded discipline, South Africa showed none, to be all out for a mere 74 in 12.3 overs, as the hosts’ bowlers ran through them with relentless accuracy.
Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel grabbed two wickets each, while Pandya fittingly chipped in with the prized scalp of David Miller.
It was also South Africa’s first defeat in three T20Is in Cuttack, and if India had started shakily, South Africa began disastrously.
Arshdeep set the tone with a superb away-swinger that kissed past Quinton de Kock’s tentative prod for a two-ball duck.
In his next over, Arshdeep produced another beauty -- a length ball that jagged back into the in-form Tristan Stubbs (14).
India went upstairs for the review, and UltraEdge confirmed a thick inside edge onto the elbow before Jitesh Sharma completed a sharp take as South Africa were 18/2 inside four overs.
Axar was introduced in the final over of the powerplay and struck immediately.
Aiden Markram, shuffling back to work a skiddy, straight delivery, was beaten on the inside edge to get bowled. At 28/3 in six overs, South Africa were already in a hole.
Pandya then added to their misery, dismissing Miller.
Chakravarthy, operating with sharp drift and deceptive pace, got into action after the powerplay. Donovan Ferreira was late to react to a delivery that held back, and could only nick behind to Jitesh.
Marco Jansen, who had fielded brilliantly earlier, was undone by Chakravarthy’s googly as South Africa slid to 68/6.
The end arrived quickly thereafter with Bumrah cleaning up Dewald Brevis and Keshav Maharaj in the space of four deliveries.
Earlier, coming back after 74 days following a left quadricep injury that forced him out of the Asia Cup, Pandya walked in at No. 6 and immediately changed the tempo of the match.
India had slipped in both the power play and middle overs losing six wickets, but Pandya, who had proved his fitness at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Baroda with a 42-ball 77 not out, counter-attacked with clean, fearless hitting to finish en route his sixth T20I fifty.
He began with two towering sixes against Maharaj just after a well-set Tilak Varma (26) fell. Pandya then ripped into Anrich Nortje with a 17-run over, even stepping out to a 149kph thunderbolt to punch it for four.
Jansen tried to rush him with short balls, but Pandya pulled one with vengeance before racing towards fifty that lifted the mood in the stadium.
He struck a six and four off Lutho Sipamla (2/38) in the 19th over, and reached his half-century in 25 balls with a ramped six over third man off Nortje in the final over, celebrating it with a muted raise of the bat.
Pandya's late fireworks helped India add 71 runs in the last six overs.
But on a fresh red-soil surface offering two-paced bounce, India struggled early.
Abhishek Sharma (17), Shubman Gill (4) and Suryakumar Yadav (12) all fell inside seven overs as Lungi Ngidi (3/31) exploited the conditions superbly with clever variations.
He removed Gill early as the batter chipped to Jansen at mid-off, and later had skipper Suryakumar holding out to Markram to have India 17/2.
Abhishek tried to force the pace after the field restrictions lifted, but fell to Sipamla, thanks to a stunning sliding catch by the 2.06m Jansen sprinting across from long leg to fine leg.
His brief stay of 17 off 12 balls ended just as he began to find rhythm with back-to-back boundaries as India soon slipped to 48/3 in 6.3 overs.
Varma looked set while smashing a towering six off Nortje and with two fours in his 32-ball 26 but the Indian innings started to wobble again with him and Axar (23) dismissed by Ngidi and Sipamla respectively.
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3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
