Heavy and persistent rain on Sunday caused the first T20 International between the India and South Africa at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.
It has been raining quite heavily since morning in Dharamshala. But after 5 pm the rain stopped and the sun came out for a while, which raised the hope for some cricket towards the latter half of the evening. The match was scheduled to start from 7 pm local time but at around 6.10 pm, another heavy downpour hit the ground and lasted for around 45 minutes. One-third of the outfield was not covered and the rain completely damaged those open areas.
At 7.48 pm local time, the match officials decided to call-off the game. Considering the amount of rain the outfield had witnessed throughout the day, it was understandable that there was no way the ground-staff would have made the field of play ready for play before the official cut-off time.
Both teams will travel to Mohali on Monday for the next game, which is taking place on September 18 (Wednesday).