IND vs SA 5th T20: Rain plays spoilsport in Bengaluru; series level 2-2

The fifth and final T20 dished an anti-climatic finish to an otherwise hard-fought series as rain played spoilsport in Bangalore on Sunday. 

South Africa won the toss for the fifth time in a row and opted to bowl first. Keshav Maharaj was leading the Proteas in Bavuma’s absence, who got injured in the last match and walked off. 

The rain made an appearance before the start of the play. The game got delayed for a while, and the overs were reduced to 19 per side. 

Batting first, India started superbly, with Ishan Kishan smacking the SA skipper for two consecutive sixes in the first over itself. Proteas though staged a quick turnaround, with Ngidi breathing fire to send both Kishan and Gaikwad packing. 

All it took were 21 balls for the rain to make an appearance again, and this time it did not subside, forcing the match officials to call off the match.

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

India will now shift its focus to England. A lot is on the line for the test team. As far as the T20 side is concerned, Rahul Dravid would hope to have all the major players who are expected to be on that flight to Australia.