The series decider at M Chinnaswamy Stadium got called off due to persistent rain as India and South Africa shared five-match T20I series 2-2. Only 21 balls were bowled in the final T20I where Lungi Ngidi dismissed the Indian openers early leaving the hosts to 28/3 in 3.3 overs when the rain hit the match. Ishan Kishan started off in style with a couple of sixes against Keshav Maharaj in the first over. He tried to set the tone of the match but was castled by Ngidi in the second over on a slower one which dipped a bit.
Ruturaj Gaikwad also became the victim of Ngidi’s slower one as he tried to play it over long-on but was caught inside the circle by Dwaine Pretorius. Rishabh Pant (1*) and Shreyas Iyer (0) were in the middle when the rain hit the match in the fourth over.
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Earlier, South Africa stand-in skipper Keshav Maharaj won the toss and elected to bowl first as Temba Bavuma was ruled out of the match after sustaining an elbow injury in fourth T20I. South Africa made few changes in their XI as Reeza Hendricks replaced Bavuma at the top. While Tristan Stubbs and Kagiso Rabada came in place of Tabraiz Shamsi and Marco Jansen.
After being put into bat, a steady downpour delayed the game by 50 minutes. It started raining just when the game was about to start.
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It also signified that South Africa keep the record intact of not having lost a white-ball series in India since 2011. The Proteas won the opening two matches before the hosts bounced back to win the next two games with big margins.
In between, umpires Anil Choudhary and K.N. Anantha Padmanabhan told the broadcasters that the cut-off time for a 5-over game is 10:02 pm with 25-30 minutes needed for mop-up operations.
But the rain didn’t relent as the confirmation for the match’s abandonment arrived. It meant that a closely-fought series, where South Africa won the first two matches before India made a comeback with back-to-back victories, ended without the decider it deserved due to rain playing a spoilsport.
Brief scores: India 28/2 in 3.3 overs (Ishan Kishan 15; Ruturaj Gaikwad 10; Lungi Ngidi 2/6) against South Africa match abandoned due to rain
(With Agency Inputs)
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