Southampton, July 11 (IANS) The toss for the fifth and final T20I between India and England has been delayed here at The Rose Bowl on Saturday after the Indian team bus got stuck in a massive traffic jam en route to the stadium.

Live visuals from the broadcasters showed the visitors had finally arrived at the venue at 2:06 pm local time, thus forcing the match officials to push back the proceedings. The toss is expected to be delayed by at least 30 minutes, with a revised start time scheduled to be confirmed shortly.

Severe traffic congestion in the Hampshire region severely affected commute times on the ground. Local on-the-ground reports and spectators have stated that even short-distance travel turned into major bottlenecks, with a public bus from the Southampton Airport Parkway station, located less than four miles from the venue, taking nearly an hour to reach the stadium gates.

The unexpected delay adds another twist to a dead-rubber final fixture of the five-match T20I series. England have already sealed the series with an unassailable 3-0 lead following dominant performances in the earlier matches. The opening game of the series was washed out due to rain in Durham.

A victory today will not only secure a comprehensive 4-0 clean sweep for Harry Brook’s men but also elevate England to the top of the ICC Men’s T20I team rankings and dethrone India.

On the other hand, the Shreyas Iyer-led Indian team will look to salvage some pride and conclude a difficult T20I leg on a high before heading into the three-match ODI series starting on July 14 in Birmingham.

Even as all eyes are on the T20I clash in Southampton, the likes of ODI skipper Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, and Gurnoor Brar are currently practicing at Edgbaston.

–IANS

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