T20 World Cup: South Africa and the rain curse

South Africa's opening fixture at the T20 World Cup ended in a damp squib as rain halted its journey to an easy win in the shortened game against Zimbabwe. The match was declared a "No Result" with both teams sharing a point each.

This result could haunt South Africa as only the top two teams from each group move on to the final four. And this wouldn't be the first time it has experienced a weather heartbreak.

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The 1992 World Cup, incidentally in Australia, saw South Africa crash out in the silliest of circumstances. Chasing England's target of 253 in the semifinal, South Africa was at 231/6 in 42.5 overs. The Proteas needed a gettable 22 runs of the last 13 balls (45-over game) before rain interrupted play. Both teams took a 10-minute break and came back onto the field to resume the semifinal. The Proteas got the shock of their life when they learned they had to chase 22 runs of just one ball! Since there was no Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method to factor in the rain while recalculating the total, umpires had no choice but to deduct two overs to compensate for the time lost.

So, instead of having 13 balls to chase the remaining 22 runs, the South African batsmen returned to the playing field to face the remaining ball without a change in their target.

In 2003, South Africa was eliminated in its own backyard by a familiar foe as rain forced it to share points with Sri Lanka, which had catastrophic consequences. Chasing Sri Lanka's target of 269, South Africa was poised for the finish line at the 45-over mark with its scoring reading 229/5. This was when the Durban skies opened up and play was called off. The DLS system showed that the par score for 45 overs was exactly 229/5 and since play never resumed, both teams had to share a point each.

This result proved fatal for South Africa as it needed a win in this final group fixture to have any chance of progressing to the next round.

The Proteas were undone by the rain gods as it suffered yet another rain-induced heartbreak.

Choosing to bat first in the nine-over-a-side game, Zimbabwe got off to the worst possible start. South African pacers Lungi Ngidi and Wayne Parnell ran through the top order as the batting team collapsed to 19/4 within the first four overs. Thanks to an onslaught from Wesley Madhevere, Zimbabwe could post a respectable total of 79/5 in its nine overs.

With the rain and an unhappy past with weather looming large, South Africa wasted no time in knocking off those 80 runs. Quinton de Kock started hammering from ball one, scoring 23 runs (four boundaries and a six) in the very first over. The onslaught continued in the second over with de Kock smacking four boundaries in the second over as South Africa raced to 40 for no loss, and then eventually 51/0 in the first three overs before the clouds opened up.

South Africa was well and truly on its way to an easy win, which would have entailed two points and, more importantly, a healthy net run rate. But it had to settle for a solitary point as the game was declared a "No Result".

South Africa would have needed to play five overs for the match to have a result, and the Proteas were way ahead in the DLS par score having lost no wickets.

The Proteas can only hope they get lucky the third time.