Rain forces abandonment of 2nd Women's T20I between India and South Africa
Chennai, Jul 7: Persistent rain forced the abandonment of the second women's T20 International between India and South Africa after the visitors made 177 for six in their innings here on Sunday.
It helped South Africa maintain their 1-0 lead in the three-match series, and now, India will have to win the third and final T20I here on Tuesday (July 9) to avoid a rare home series defeat.
The start of the match was delayed by 15 minutes because of rain and it was a constant spoilsport on three occasions during South Africa's innings without stopping the proceedings.
But the heavens opened up during the innings break, sufficient to force the teams to stay put in their respective dressing rooms.
The overs began to lose by 9.16 pm, and the nagging drizzle meant that even the cut-off time -- 10.13 pm -- for a five-over-a-side contest could not be met, eventually forcing the umpires to take the tough call.
Earlier, Tazmin Brits made a measured fifty as the Proteas overcame some mid-innings jitters to post a challenging 177 for six after being asked to bat first.
Brits (52 off 39 balls) received solid support from Anneke Bosch (40 off 32 balls) as the Proteas racked up their second-highest T20I total against India.
Openers Laura Wolvaardt (22 off 12 balls) and Brits were involved in a 42-run opening stand before pacer Pooja Vastrakar got rid of the former in the fifth over.
In the company of Marizanne Kapp (20 off 14 balls), Brits continued her brisk scoring ways as they put up 66 runs during the powerplay.
While Brits brought up her 11th T20I half-century, she failed to push her stand with Bosch going beyond 38, falling to Deepti in the 14th over, with the score reading 113 for three.
The Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, were barely giving the South Africans any room to bat freely, forcing them to use the sweep shots quite often.
Vastrakar bowled the final over and got rid of Nadine de Klerk (14 off 9 balls), but Jemimah Rodrigues dropped the chance to dismiss Annerie Dercksen (12 not out) for which she made the Indians pay, striking three fours in a row off the last three balls of SA innings.
Vastrakar and Deepti claimed two wickets each for the hosts.
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After fake ID crackdown, IRCTC daily new accounts down to 5000 from one lakh: Railways
New Delhi (PTI): With a new, stringent system to establish user identity, the number of new user IDs being added daily on the IRCTC website has declined to about 5,000 from nearly one lakh, officials said on Saturday.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that the crackdown by Indian Railways on train ticket booking through fake identities is yielding positive results, according to a press note.
Before the latest reforms, this number had touched nearly one lakh new user IDs per day, it said.
"Following the introduction of a stringent system to establish user identity and detect fake IDs, about 5,000 new user IDs are now being added daily on the IRCTC website," the note said.
The officials stated that these steps have already helped Indian Railways deactivate 3.03 crore fake accounts.
"Another 2.7 crore user IDs have either been temporarily suspended or identified for suspension based on the suspicious activities they are indulging in," they said.
The Union minister directed officials to ensure that the ticketing system is reformed to a level where all travellers are able to book tickets easily through a real and genuine user ID, the press note added.
Additionally, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed officials to provide local cuisine of the region in Vande Bharat trains.
Introducing local cuisine that reflects the culture and tastes of the regions being traversed will significantly enhance the passenger experience, officials said.
This facility will be expanded to all the trains progressively in future, they added.
