India’s challenging U.K. tour threw up another obstacle on Saturday when a traffic jam delayed their arrival at Southampton for the fifth and final Twenty20 International against England, which the hosts won by 56 runs to clinch a 4-0 series win.
Shreyas Iyer’s side reached the ground five minutes after the scheduled toss time, forcing officials to delay the start to allow India warm-up time. Play started 30 minutes late.
The delay was the latest hiccup in a trip that has produced little joy for the T20 world champions who arrived in England after suffering their first-ever T20 defeat and first-ever T20 series loss to Ireland in a 2-0 sweep in Belfast.
They have since failed to win a game against England and lost 4-0 in the five-match T20 series after the opener ended in a no result due to rain.
“I personally feel that we’ve seen almost everything in this series and also the one which we played before,” Iyer said. “So, another challenge, another day altogether.”
England, meanwhile, did not seem much affected by the delay with opener Jos Buttler smashing 131 in 64 balls, and captain Harry Brook scoring an unbeaten 95 off 45 deliveries as the hosts posted a mammoth target of 257-3.
In reply, India could post only 201-8, despite fighting half-centuries from Ishan Kishan (56) and Tilak Varma (53), as Sam Curran led the hosts’ bowling attack with three wickets.
England will also play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against India starting on Tuesday.