Persistent rain forced the abandonment of the second women's T20 International between India and South Africa after the visitors made 177 for six in their innings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. (Highlights | More Cricket News)
It helped South Africa maintain their 1-0 lead in the three-match series, and now, India will have to win the third and fi🥃nal T20I in Chennai on Tuesday (July 9) to avoid a rare home series defe🍌at.
The start of the match was delayed by 15 minutes because of rain and it was a constant spoilspor⛄t on three occasions during South Africa's innings without stopping the proceedings.
But the heavens opened up during the in💖nings break, sufficient to force the teams to stay put in their reꦆspective dressing rooms.
The overs began to lose by 9.16 pm, and t💞he nagging drizzle meant that even the cut-off time -- 10.13 pm -- for a five-over-a-side contest could not be met, eventually forcing the umpires to take the tough call.
Earlier, Tazmin Brits made a measured fifty as the Proteas overcame some mid-innings jitters to post a challenging 177 for six after bei🌳ng asked to bat first.
Br෴its (52 off 39 balls) received solid support from Anneke Bosch (40 off 32 balls) as the Proteas racked up their second-highest T20I total against 🍰India.
Openers Laura Wolvaardt (22 off 12 balls) and Brits were involved in a 42-r𝄹un opening stand before pacer Pooja Vastrakar got rid of the former in the fifth over.
In the company of Marizanne Kapp (20 off 14 balls), Brits continued her brisk scoring ways as the▨y put up 66 runs during th🏅e powerplay.
While Brits brought up her 11th T20I half-century, she failed to push her stand with Bosch going beyond 38, falling to Deepti in the 14th over, with the score re꧑ading 11𒁏3 for three.
The India𒐪n bowlers, especially the spinners, were barely giving the South Africans any room to baඣt freely, forcing them to use the sweep shots quite often.
Vastrakar bowled the final over and got rid of Nadine de Klerk (14 off 9 balls), but Jemimah Rodrigues dropped the chance to dismiss Annerie Derc🌼ksen (12 not out) for which she made the 🐼Indians pay, striking three fours in a row off the last three balls of SA innings.
Vastrꦫakar and Deepti claimed two wickets each forღ the hosts.
