Snake found on field during India-South Africa T20I, ground-staff catch and throw it away

Snake found on field during India-South Africa T20I, ground-staff catch and throw it away

Snake found on field during India-South Africa T20I, ground-staff catch and throw it away

Guwahati: With India facing South Africa in the second T20I of their three-match series in Guwahati, crazy scenes emerged as a snake was found at the Barsapara Stadium on Sunday. The incident occurred after the end of the seventh over of the Indian innings when the play was suddenly halted. It was then that the commentators said on air 'Play has been stopped because we have been told that there is a snake on the ground'. 

The cameras initially showed the Indian batters and South African fielders looking towards a particular direction, before the snake appeared on the big screen. Immediately, the ground-staff came rushing on to the field to escort the uninvited visitor off the ground. It required four people to catch the snake and take take if off.

This incident is also one of the most bizarre instances to bring a match to halt. In the past, there have been other strange instances too. During a Test match between India and New Zealand in Napier in 2019, the game was stopped due to excessive sunlight.

Also in 2017, a car circled around the pitch during a Ranji Trophy match in Delhi and the fixture was stopped. Meanwhile, a Test match between South Africa and Bangladesh also had a strange halt, with Lunch getting delayed by 10 minutes after caterers entrusted to bring food for the visitors failed to reach on time. Although bees and dogs have often forced action to be halted briefly, a snake invading play was a first tonight.

The drama as the Barsapara Stadium did not end there. During the South African innings, play was halted for a second time in the match when there was a power failure. The floodlights suddenly went off causing the game to be stopped before the power was restored and India and South Africa carried on with the game. Floodlights acting up isn't new. It infamously happened in 2008 during the IPL match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

As far as the game goes, India, asked to bat put in an explosive batting display en route to amassing 237/3. The star of the innings was Suryakumar Yadav, who notched up a fifty off just 18 balls and blasted 61 off 22 balls including five fours and five sixes. This, along with contributions from KL Rahul (57), Virat Kohli (49) and Rohit Sharma (43) helped India in setting South Africa a gigantic target to level the series.

At the toss, captain Rohit said: "Yes (Would have fielded as well). Just want to come out, play some good cricket and entertain the crowd. We have never beaten (speaking of a series win) these guys here and it's gonna take a lot of effort from everyone to do that and we have come out prepared and pretty much ready for the game.

"Not too sure how the conditions will be. When I touched the pitch there was some stickiness and we've got to be a little cautious at the start. We got solid batting line-up and it will be a challenge upfront. We are playing the same team."