India's late arrival for fifth England T20I delays toss

SOUTHAMPTON: In a bizarre turn of events, the toss for the fifth T20I between England and India, scheduled to be played here at the Rose Bowl, was delayed due to the touring side's late arrival at the venue.

According to international media, the visitors failed to reach the venue in time due to the heavy traffic in the city.

Details further suggested that the Men in Blue eventually reached the venue 10 minutes after the scheduled time for the toss, which, however, will now take place at 2:45 PM, with the first ball to be bowled at 3:00 PM as no overs were lost.

For the unversed, it was the second instance when an international cricket match was delayed in England, with the first occurrence coming in June last year when the West Indies team failed to reach The Oval in time due to heavy traffic in London.

West Indies' late arrival had delayed the toss for their third away ODI against England by 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the upcoming fixture is of great significance for both sides, although England have already secured the five-match series 3-0, as a victory would help them topple India at the summit of the world rankings.

However, India would want to break the unwanted run, which saw them succumbing to series defeats against Ireland and England, respectively, and came after their successful defence of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup title.

Squads

India: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

England: Harry Brook (c), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Sonny Baker, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler (wk), James Coles, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Josh Tongue and Luke Wood.