Another Unusual Delay: Lightning Stops Final T20I Between India & West Indies

Lauderhill (Florida): India’s tour of the West Indies has been strange in a way. The tourists have dominated the ODI and T20I series, but there have been off-the-field incidents which are not very common.

The start of the second T20 International at Bassettere was delayed by about three hours because of “significant delays” in arrival of luggage from Trinidad to St Kitts.

The day after, the third match of the series was pushed back by an hour and a half to give the players sufficient time to recover.

The two teams then moved to Lauderhill in Florida, US, for the last two games – but only after uncertainty caused by players getting their visas late.

And on Sunday, there was more ‘drama’ during the final T20I of the tour.

The match did start on scheduled time, but the umpires and players went off the pitch after 14.3 overs of the Indian innings, because of lightning.

The sun was out, but there was lightning in the vicinity.

A spectator at the ground explained that the lightening alarm for the city had gone off, hence the game had to be halted for safety of players.

“The ground has to follow the code of this emergency. Everyone out in the open needs to take a shelter. And that’s why players are off the field,” Vikas wrote on Cricinfo.

The match resumed after 15 minutes as India resumed their innings.