Rain has played spoil sport on Sunday evening in Bangalore as the series decider between India and South Africa was abandoned after 21 legal deliveries. The series was tied at 2-2 before this game and will finish with that scoreline. This also means that South Africa keep their proud record intact - of not having lost a limited-overs series on Indian soil since 2010.
In the three and a half overs, South Africa edged ahead with Lungi Ngidi dismissing both openers. Ishan Kishan was clean bowled for 15 off 7 deliveries while Ruturaj Gaikwad added 10 to the cause. Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were in the middle when rain came by yet again.
Kishan hit two sixes off Kehsav Maharaj's opening over but was undone by a loopy slower delivery from Ngidi as he committed to the shot early and played all over it.
Earlier, stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj won the toss and South Africa asked an unchanged India to bat first in Bangalore. The start was delayed due to rain and the game was reduced to a 19 overs-a-side contest.
But after 3.3 overs, there was yet another spell of heavy rain which continued well into the evening, forcing umpires to call of the game.
The cut-off time for a five-overs a side game was 10:02pm and the game was called off just before that as it would not have been possible to get the ground ready by then.
Captain's Speak at the Toss
“We will bowl first, the overhead conditions, the dew, we can look to exploit the conditions, but it does look like a good wicket to bat on. Tristan Stubbs, Reeza Hendricks and KG Rabada are back, we have gone for the extra batter, hopefully, we'll notizie it while batting,” Keshav Maharaj said.
“The practice isn't working for me (on the toss). Looks like a good wicket, we would like to get anything around 180-190. We just need to focus on the process and put in our 100% into the game. Playing the same team,” Pant said at the toss.
Playing XIs
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj(c), Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje
India (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)