Steady rain washes out decider as series ends 2-2
The series' deciding day began with the teams tied at 2-2, and it remained that way after weather intervened. The sixth match was delayed by 47 minutes due to persistent rain in Bengaluru, which initially shortened the game to 19 overs each side, but only 3.3 overs were bowled. The rain did not stop long enough for mop-up operations to commence for even a five-over shootout, despite the Chinnaswamy's excellent drainage system.
South Africa may be the more dissatisfied of the two teams after Lungi Ngidi, in only his second T20I in nearly a year, bowled India's openers out in consecutive overs. Ngidi sat on the bench for the whole IPL 2022 season, but he used the opportunity to improve his trade and develop a particularly good slower ball. He utilized it to get rid of Ishan Kishan, who had already finished his drive when the delivery arrived. It was full on offstump and Kishan was probably still thinking about the 141kph ball that had been declared wide just moments earlier. Ngidi stayed with the off cutter in his next over. Ruturaj Gaikwad advanced down the track and attempted to clear the inner ring, but the ball bounced off the toe-end of his bat and was caught at mid-on by Dwaine Pretorius. When the rain resumed and the players fled the field, only one more ball was bowled.
As the fans waited, they screamed "RCB," but not even the chant of their IPL franchise could send Dinesh Karthik, their adopted hometown hero, to the crease. Karthik was eager to play in front of the Bengaluru crowd after scoring his first T20I half-century in Rajkot.
After Temba Bavuma was ruled out of the match with an elbow injury, Keshav Maharaj was captaining for the fourth time in his 13-match T20I career. South Africa made three changes to the starting lineup that lost two days before, one of which was forced due to Bavuma's unavailability.
Reeza Hendricks was brought in to begin the batting, Kagiso Rabada returned to the attack in place of Marco Jansen after recovering from a groin injury, and South Africa used Tristan Stubbs as an extra hitter instead of Tabraiz Shamsi, the second specialist spinner. After making his debut in the series opener in Delhi, where South Africa won without him, Stubbs has yet to bat in international cricket.
Throughout the series, India used the same XI, lost every toss, and had to defend in all five games. They found their stride after losing the first two games and won the next two. They would have become the first side to win a bilateral T20I series from a 2-0 deficit if they had won this match. South Africa, on the other hand, has managed to keep its record. They haven't lost a T20I series in India since 2010, and they haven't lost a white-ball series since 2010.
