India and South Africa were declared joint winners of the TVS Cup triangular series after a heavy thunderstorm played spoilsport for the second successive day, forcing the organisers to abandon the final.

The thunderstorm, accompanied by gusty winds, interrupted the proceedings with India precariously placed at 46 for three in 17.1 overs, and rendered the ground unfit for play.

The heavy rain, which lasted for about half an hour, forced the groundsmen to cover the pitch and the adjacent areas but the outfield was left completely soggy.

Umpires Alim Dar of Pakistan and Akhtaruddin of Bangladesh inspected the ground at 6.25 pm local time and decided to abandon the final.

The summit showdown had to be postponed to Monday's reserve day after a thunderstorm lashed the city just half an hour before the scheduled toss on Sunday.

The organisers went to the extent of hiring the services of a helicopter in a bid to dry up the field. The spectators who waited in the galleries hoping for some action had some entertainment as the chopper flew barely a few metres above the turf.

To add to all the non-cricketing drama, the floodlights went off for a few minutes as strong winds swept across the stadium, bringing down the canopies on the galleries.

Electing to bat, the Indian innings began on a sedate note as both openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, appeared a little tentative against the South African new-ball operators on what seemed a dual-paced track.

The dashing Sehwag, who looked unusually subdued, was the first to dismissed with the Indian score on 19. It came as a big blow for the team since he was needed to give a flying start to the innings.

Sehwag tried to lift the ball over the inner circle but failed to connect his shot properly and Allan Dawson latched on to a simple catch at mid-on with Shaun Pollock claiming the prized scalp. Sehwag managed just eight runs off 18 balls, which included a boundary.

The left-handed Gambhir, who played cautiously, perished to a poor stroke as he needlessly tried to slash at an outside the off-stump delivery and only succeeded in edging the ball to Neil McKenzie at second slip, with Makhaya Ntini doing the damage.

Gambhir laboured 33 balls for his 11 runs and captain Sourav Ganguly must have been disappointed by the manner in which the Delhi youngster threw away his wicket.

The Indians received another jolt soon after when Mohammad Kaif returned to the pavilion, paying the price for attempting a rather ambitious shot off Ntini, who worked up a fair amount of pace in his opening spell.

Kaif, who has been fairly successful in his new number four batting slot, attempted to pull a slightly short-pitched ball but completely mistimed the shot and spooned a simple catch to Jacques Rudoplh at mid-on.

As Yuvraj Singh walked in to join his skipper, with India struggling at 41 for three, strong winds swept across the stadium and play had to be suspended for a few minutes as the bails and caps kept flying off.

With the conditions getting murkier, Ganguly and Yuvraj had to negotiate the South African pacemen under difficult conditions which heavily favoured the fast bowlers. The task of the batsmen was more difficult since some of the balls tended to keep low.

The dark clouds, which were hovering over the stadium, gave way to torrential rains which forced the umpires to suspend play after just 17.1 overs much to the disappointment of a sizable crowd which thronged the galleries.

Ganguly was batting on 11 and Yuvraj was on two when play was stopped.