India and South Africa clashed in the third T20I of the five-match series on December 14, 2025. This match is being played at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, and Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav were selected for the India XI in place of Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel. South Africa made three changes to their starting XI. Harshit Rana celebrated his inclusion by removing Quinton de Kock for one and Dewald Brevis for two, while Arshdeep Singh bowled Reeza Hendricks for a duck in the opening over.

Then Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakaravarthy, and even Shivam Dube took cheap wickets, while captain Aiden Markram anchored one end for 61 in 46 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes. Donovan Ferreira (20) and Anrich Nortje (12) contributed as South Africa was bowled out for 117 runs. Arshdeep Singh was the standout bowler with 2/13 in his 4 overs, while Varun took 2/11.

India started well with Abhishek Sharma hitting a six off the very first ball of the Indian innings and hammering 35 runs in 18 balls with 3 sixes and as many fours. Shubman Gill and Tilak Varma had a good time in the middle. Gill made 28 in 28 balls, while Varma made 26* in 34 balls.

Suryakumar Yadav’s struggles continued as he fell for 12 runs, but Shivam Dube (10*) ensured that India won the game by 7 wickets, scoring 120/3 in 15.5 overs. With this win, India went 2-1 up in the five-T20I series.

The fourth T20I will be played on December 17 in Lucknow, and the fifth and final match will be played on December 19 in Ahmedabad.

The cricket fraternity reacted to the Indian win by sharing their reactions on social media.

Here are the posts: