Hardik Pandya’s mammoth effort left analysts and fans alike wondering if he overcame difficult conditions or made the most of rapidly improving ones. The proof was in the Protean pudding, with South Africa succumbing to a 101-run defeat in the first T20I at the Barabati Stadium here on Tuesday.

South Africa’s collapse put extra shine on Hardik’s half-century, after the all-rounder helped India recover from a spot of bother to set a 176-run target. The visitor was eventually bundled out in 12.3 overs, for its lowest score in the format.

Arshdeep Singh made early inroads with the new ball, his wide outswinger drawing an edge off Quinton de Kock. Abhishek Sharma made no mistake at second slip.

An inside edge was Tristan Stubbs’ undoing, Arshdeep deceiving him with the wobble seam and Jitesh Sharma taking a low catch – a well taken review sending him on the long walk back.

The introduction of spin further piled misery on the visitors, Axar Patel knocking out Aiden Markram’s leg stump and ramping up the decibel levels. After that, it was a procession to the pavilion, with David Miller and Donovan Ferreira falling in consecutive overs to leave South Africa five wickets down for just 50 runs.

A googly from Varun Chakaravarthy then ended Marco Jansen’s time in the middle while Jasprit Bumrah sent the dangerous Dewald Brevis and Keshav Maharaj, crossing the 100-wicket milestone in T20Is in the process, as India quickly cleaned up the lower order to wrap up a comfortable win.

Earlier, Jansen proved to be a troublesome firewall for India as the Proteas put the host under the pump to clinch early momentum. Lungi Ngidi made the most of the pace-friendly red soil pitch, sending back Shubman Gill and captain Suryakumar Yadav.

Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma understandably dialed down cautiously. The former tried to swivel the ball fine for four, but Jansen covered 11 meters in just five strides to take a brilliant catch off Lutho Sipamla’s bowling to leave Abhishek and the Indian faithful picking their jaws off the floor.

With three wickets gone and the temperature dropping to 19°C, the partisan crowd needed something special to warm up to the fixture again, and Tilak duly obliged. He picked a slower delivery from Nortje and walloped it over deep square leg, the ball sailing out of the stadium and into the night sky.

Just when India looked to be building momentum, Jansen slammed the brakes, sending back Tilak with an excellent catch at deep fine leg, backtracking and plucking the ball from the air, just inches away from the ropes.

Pressure brings the best out of Hardik and India looked to him once more. Off Maharaj, he smacked two sixes to ease a stuttering run rate and frayed nerves. After losing Axar Patel and Shivam Dube, Hardik and Jitesh Sharma drew 18 runs from the penultimate over.

Hardik’s 100th career T20I six brought up his half-century, in just 25 balls, a quintessentially resilient blitz that set India up for a famous win.