India and South Africa shared honours in the five-match T20I series after the last game here on Sunday was called off due to rain with only 3.3 overs of play possible. India and South Africa were on level terms at 2-2 after four matches.

After being put into bat, a steady downpour delayed the game by 50 minutes. It started raining just when the game was about to start. The curtailed match did start at 7:50PM but was called off after only 16 minutes of play in which India managed 28 runs for the loss of two wickets.

Lungi Ngidi got both the wickets of Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad with a couple of slower deliveries. Kishan hit two sixes off Keshav Maharaj's opening over but was undone by a loopy slower delivery from Ngidi as he committed to the shot early and played all over it.

Gaikwad also failed to pick up a slower delivery and was holed out at mid-on before the heavens opened up again to stop the series decider.

The series ending at two games apiece meant that South Africa remained unbeaten in white-ball cricket on the Indian soil since 2010.

Indian pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar walked away with the Player of the Match award for his 6 wickets.

Reacting to his Player of the Match award Bhuvneshwar in the post-match presentation ceremony said:

"When you get Man of the Series, it's always a proud moment, and as a bowler in T20, it's even better. I'm always focused on getting back stronger, whether it's my bowling or my fitness. I'm playing for years now, my role has always been the same. Bowl two in the powerplay, bowl two at the end. These things are always the same, but as a senior I always think about helping the youngsters. I've been lucky that the captain has given me the full hand and said do what you want. In that regard, I've been blessed"

Keshav Maharaj, was the captain of South Africa for this match as regular skipper Temba Bavuma failed to recover from the injury that he sustained in his left arm in the fourth T20I.

At the end, Maharaj said: "Very disappointed that we couldn't get a full game. It would have been an exciting end to an exciting tour, but we can't control the weather. I think if you saw the way we played the first few games, we tried a few combinations. We're a work in progress, and we're trying different combinations to see how we shape up ahead of the World Cup. It's a strong Indian outfit we came up against, so we didn't want to take anything for granted."

Pant, for whom, this was the first series as India's captain, reacted by saying:

It might get a little bit frustrating, but there are a lot of positives, especially the way the whole team showed character after the series was 2-0. We are trying to find different ways of winning matches, we are trying to play in a new way. Mistakes will happen, but we are going in the right way. I think this is the first time I've lost this many tosses at the same time, but it's not in my control, so I'm not thinking about it too much. From a team point of view it's now about winning the last Test match in England, and from a personal point of view I would like to contribute more to making my team win."

(With PTI inputs)