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29 March 2024

India vs South Africa 3rd T20: Match abandoned due to wet outfield

Published
By Cricket Correspondent and Agencies

The third and final Twenty20 international between India and South Africa was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to a wet outfield at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.

The match held only academic interest with the tourists having already clinched a decisive 2-0 lead in the series.

A spell of heavy afternoon rain water-logged the outfield, which the ground staff failed to dry under cloudy skies.

The Proteas had won the first match in Dharamsala by seven wickets and the second in Cuttack by six wickets.

India and South Africa will now contest five one-day internationals starting on Sunday before a four-Test series opens on November 5.

Heavy rain has delayed the toss because of a wet outfield.

Preview

India will seek to salvage lost pride as they take on South Africa in the third and final Twenty20 International at Eden Gardens on Thursday.

The visitors have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

In the first match at Dharamsala, the hosts were able to pile up a massive 199 on the board, but JPDuminy steered Proteas to a seven-wicket victory with a 34-ball unbeaten 68.
 
At the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, India were skittled for a mere 92 with South Africa coasting home by six wickets despite crowd trouble.

Indians might take confidence from the fact that they have won six out of the 10 T20 Internationals against South Africa, but the pressure is on the hosts.

Report


The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has sought a report from its state unit on the crowd trouble during Monday's Twenty20 match against South Africa which has prompted calls for a ban on the venue.

Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar led calls for a ban on Cuttack after supporters at the sold-out Barabati Stadium in Orissa threw bottles during the change of innings and again when South Africa were batting.

The match suffered a delay of close to an hour and resumed only after police cleared an upper stand of the stadium as South Africa went on to record their second successive victory to seal the three-match series with a game to spare.

"BCCI President Shashank Manohar has asked the Secretary of Orissa Cricket Association Ashirwad Behera to submit a report on the incident within two days," the board said in a statement on its website (www.bcci.tv).

"Mr. Manohar has asked the state association to explain why the spectators were allowed to carry the bottles inside the stadium, which is against the ICC Guidelines."

In India most stadiums do not allow bottles, and other objects that can be used as projectiles, but Behera has been quoted in the local media as saying that fans were allowed to carry water bottles to cope with the heat.