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 included in the India XI in place of Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel. South Africa made three changes to their playing XI. Harshit Rana celebrated his inclusion by dismissing Quinton de Kock for one and Dewald Brevis for two runs, while Arshdeep Singh removed Reeza Hendricks for a duck in the first over.

Then Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakaravarthy, and even Shivam Dube accounted for cheap wickets, while captain Aiden Markram anchored one end for 61 in 46 balls with six fours and two sixes. Donovan Ferreira (20) and Anrich Nortje (12) contributed a bit as South Africa was bundled out for 117 runs.

Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav picked two wickets each.

When Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill came out to open in India’s chase, Lungi Ngidi took the ball for South Africa. However, his first delivery to Abhishek was a poor one, a length ball on his pads, and the southpaw helped it over the fine leg for a six.

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This was the third time Abhishek Sharma had hit the first ball of his team’s innings for a six and now holds the world record for doing so. The other Indians to achieve this feat are Rohit Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Indian batters hitting the first ball of a T20I innings for a six:

Rohit Sharma off Adil Rashid, Ahmedabad, 2021

Yashasvi Jaiswal off Sikandar Raza, Harare, 2024

Sanju Samson off Jofra Archer Wankhede, 2025

Abhishek Sharma off Haider Ali, Dubai, 2025

Abhishek Sharma off Shaheen Afridi, Dubai, 2025

Abhishek Sharma off Lungi Ngidi, Dharamsala, 2025