Flying ants, insects stop India vs South Africa 3rd T20I in Centurion, umpires take players off the field

As bizarre as it gets! The India vs South Africa 3rd T20I was halted due to flying ants and and insects at the SuperSport in Centurion on Wednesday. Play was stopped after the first over of the South African innings when flying ants caused havoc. After pacer Arshdeep Singh was seen battling the insects, Hardik Pandya was disturbed when he was about to bowl his first over of the match. The umpires decided it was too much to carry on and asked the players to go off the field. South Africa were 7/0 at that point, chasing a mammoth 220-run target.

The groundstaff had to use vacuum cleaners to blow the ants away. The players came back on the field after a stoppage of 19 minutes.

A Tilak Varma classic

Tilak Varma (107 not out) produced a batting masterclass while slamming his maiden international hundred as India posted a massive 219 for six. Tilak got ample backing from Abhishek Sharma who made a brisk 50 after SA skipper Aiden Markram invited the visitors to bat first.

The 22-year-old Tilak tore into the South African pacers as he hammered seven sixes and eight fours during his innings off a mere 57 balls, powering India to their second-highest score against the Proteas in this format.

On his part, Abhishek banished a poor run with the bat with a stroke-laden half-century, scoring 50 off only 25 balls laced with five sixes and three fours as the two southpaws dazzled with the bat. With his rich arsenal of strokes in all directions, Tilak dominated the bowling with complete authority and also helped India stay on course through the blips.

First, he forged a 107-run stand with Abhishek for the second wicket to build a strong platform after the early dismissal of Sanju Samson (0).

As India stuttered in the middle overs with Keshav Maharaj (2/36) applying the brakes, Tilak ensured his team did not squander the advantage with a late charge — his last 52 runs came off only 22 balls in the last six overs. Tilak’s charge also masked the failure for skipper Suryakumar Yadav (1), Hardik Pandya (18) and Rinku Singh (8).

At the start, Samson was beaten by a low bounce on the second ball from Marco Jansen as the Indian opener, who made a hundred in the first match, fell to his second successive duck in this series.