India eves breathe again after rain abandons tie against South Africa

Abandoned T20 tie against SA gives Indians a chance for second series win on Rainbow Nation tour

India bowler Deepti Sharma, who claimed two wickets against South Africa yesterday in Centurion. Pic/Getty Images

The Indian women's cricket team will return from their tour of South Africa without losing a single series after the fourth T20 International was abandoned due to rain, giving Harmanpreet Kaur's team an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the five-match contest. The South Africans, who were put to bat, were 130 for 3 from 15.3 overs when heavens opened up to half the proceedings at the SuperSport Park. After a wait of nearly two hours, the umpires finally decided to abandon the match. The fifth and final T20 International will be played in Cape Town on February 24.

Interesting tie
A win in Cape Town will make Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. the first to have won two series on a single tour of South Africa. It will also be a huge milestone after having won the T20 series in Australia. The rain stopped in between, raising hopes of a shortened match to happen. But the Indian run chase did not happen in the end as light rain returned again to play spoilsport. During the 15.3 overs of play, South African openers Lizelle Lee (58 not out) and Dane van Niekerk (55) hit half centuries while off-spinner Deepti Sharma was the pick of Indian bowlers with figures of 2/33. Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav took one wicket. Yesterday's abandonment of the match meant that the Indian women will not lose a series on this South Africa tour as the visitors had clinched the preceding three-match ODI series 2-1.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur

Spirited show
The Indian team was aiming for a quick recovery from a rare setback in the third T20I. After convincing victories - by seven and nine wickets respectively - in the first two T20 games, India allowed South Africa to stay alive in the series by slumping to a five-wicket loss against the hosts in the third match in Johannesburg on February 18.

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