India and South Africa were declared joint winners of the TVS Cup after a heavy thunderstorm played spoilsport for the second time in as many days, forcing the organisers to abandon the final.
The thunderstorm, accompanied by gusty winds, interrupted the proceedings, with India at a precarious 46 for three in17.1 overs, and left the ground unfit for any further play despite the groundsmen trying their best.
The rain, which lasted for about half an hour, forced the groundsmen to cover the pitch and the
adjacent areas but the outfield was left completely soggy.
The two umpires, Alim Dar of Pakistan and Akhtaruddin of Bangladesh, inspected the ground at 6.25 pm local time anddecided to abandon the final as the ground had not dried up sufficiently for play to resume. A fresh downpour shortlyafter the ground inspection, which was much harder than the first spell, undid all the hard work put in by the groundsmen.
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The summit showdown, which was originally scheduled for yesterday, had to be postponed to the reserve day today aftera thunderstorm had lashed the city just half an hour before the scheduled toss.
The organisers went to the extent of hiring the services of a helicopter belonging to a private company in a bid to dryup the field. The spectators who waited in the galleries hoping for some action had some entertainment as the chopperflew barely a few metres above the turf.
To add to all the non-cricketing drama, the floodlights went off for a few minutes as strong winds swept across thestadium tearing the canopies on the galleries.
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Electing to bat, the Indian innings began on a sedate note as both the openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhirappeared a little tentatave against the South African new ball operators on what seemed a dual-paced track.
The dashing Sehwag, who looked unusually subdued, was the first to dismissed with the Indian score on 19 came as abig blow for the team since he was needed to give a flying start to the innings.
Sehwag tried to lift the ball over the inner circle but failed to connect his shot properly and Allan Dawson latchedon to a simple catch at mid-on with Shaun Pollock claiming the prized scalp. Sehwag managed just 8 runs off 18balls and struck one boundary.
The left handed Gambhir, who played cautiously, perished to a poor stroke as he needlessly tried to slash at an outsidethe off stump delivery and only succeeded in edging the ball to Neil McKenzie at second slip with Makhaya Ntini doing thedamage.
Gambhir laboured for 33 balls for his 11 runs and captain Saurav Ganguly must have been disappointed by the manner inwhich the Delhi youngster threw away his wicket.
The Indians received another jolt soon after when Mohammad Kaif returned to thepavilion paying the price for attempting a rather ambitious shot off Ntini who worked up afair amount of pace in his opening spell.
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Kaif, who has been fairly successful in his new number four batting slot, attempted to pull a slightly short-pitchedball but completely mistimed the shot and spooned a simple catch to JacquesRudolph at mid on.
As Yuvraj Singh walked in to join his skipper with India struggling at 41 for three, strong winds swept across thestadium and play had to be suspended for a few minutes as the bails kept flying off.
With the conditions getting murkier, Ganguly and Yuvraj had to negotiate the South African pacemen under difficultconditions which heavily favoured the fast bowlers. The task of the batsmen was more difficult since some of the ballstended to keep low.
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The dark clouds which were hovering over the stadium gave way to thetorrential rain which forced the umpires to suspend play after just 17.1 overs, much to the disappointment of the seizable crowd.
Ganguly was batting on 11 and Yuvraj was on two when play was interrupted.
PTI
