9:25pm Back we are for what could be the one last time. Umpires Rohan Pandit and KN Ananthapadmanabhan go to the centre. The India players are still on the balcony. And the game has been called off. The atmosphere has the final say. This was quite a wait though, a rare one it must be said. See you for the final game in two days, where India can win the series or South Africa for level it. Thanks for tuning in.

Venkat : "Now, it is sure that India may not lose the Series."

Reinier Botha: "Umpires must be exhausted, they've inspected the ground 15 times already."

9pm Time for Inspection #5. Pitch is still covered. Inspection at 9:25pm. That'll be No. 6

Basil George : "kerala aqi is also low close to 100, we have 2 international stadium as well, feel free to come ;)"

Ganesh B: "Our Pune climate is pleasant please come here to play"

Prashant Bh: "Climate change is real and it will not spare sports."

Satyam: "This is like waiting for a flight to take off at the airport these days. You get intermittent updates and then eventually the flights gets cancelled."

8:30pm Time to go again. The umpires are walking along the outfield. They've moved to the centre and chat. Inspection No. 5 scheduled at 9pm

Kartik : "Lucknow AQI hits 387…sounds like the so called fog won't be moving any time soon" Yeah, it's been bad, was 418 a little while back

navi: "its so confusing ! is fog getting any better with this delay i dont think so" Everything's blurry, dhundhalaa as the song goes

Vijay : "good chance the match won't happen today. I am only here to see if my comment get published " As good a reason as any

Inspection No. 4 at 8:30pm. There was a half-hour buffer period for loss of overs. Game can start at 9:46pm at the latest. The pitch is being covered again. (2/2)

8pm Umpires, Rohan Pandit and KN Ananthapadmanabhan walk back out again. They're walking both around the pitch and then making their way out to the boundary areas. That's to check visibility. The footmarks are pronounced as the umpires walk, as are some tyre tracks from the buggy cam. Just FYI, light meter works with natural lights, not artificial lights, Deep Dasgupta says. (1/2)

SharatOjha: "So if the game starts at 9:46pm, it will be of how many overs ?" 5

Nik: "How many As in Ananthapadmanabhan? No counting, just guess!" 9?

7:50pm Some good news, the pitch is being rolled. Ten more minutes for the inspection. in the meantime you can check out some IPL analysis post the mini-auction - here's how the teams stack up.

Kunal: "What are the chances of any play happening?" I'd have said low, the pitch being rolled might bring it back up to 50-50

Chinmay Jariwal: "Way back in 2008-09, I was studying fog as part of my thesis in Kanpur which is not very far from Lucknow. We used to wake up every now and then at night to see if fog was there. My experience tells that it will get worse as night progresses. It will improve only in the morning at around 9 am when temperature starts going up."

7:30pm Time for the second inspection. Umpires are on the field. Doesn't look like things have improved. Lack of visibility is the main issue. Inspection no. 3 scheduled at 8pm.

raab: "Have we started losing any overs?" No confirmation yet. Generally, overs are cut off after an hour's delay.

Hemant Noval: "When I and my friends faced the fog problem in childhood, we just took our private jet to a non fog location and play there. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. "

abhi: "Well i along with my friends used to face this fog problem. We used to go playing around 6 in the morning well aware of the fog we would bring with us some matchstick and then collect all the leaves and sticks , put on the fire, i guess it is the best way of warming up before a game. Hope you at least read this. " Yeah, this is the second charming story of ingenuity. Thanks

6:50pm The umpires are around the pitch, the inspection is on. They now have a walky-talky out. The ump is now chatting to Shukri Conrad, SA coach, and Aiden Markram. Another one between Gambhir and the other ump. Another inspection scheduled at 7:30pm.

Reinier Botha: "In rugby we had the 2006 Super rugby final between the Crusaders vs Highlanders that was played in heavy heavy fog! The people in the stands couldn't see the players on the pitch - It got known as the best final that no one has ever seen."

Boobalan : "A whole test match has been fogged out between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. 3rd test of 1998 tour" Just searched and yes, what a story!

Dandyhighwayman: "AQI Australian Question Inflective ? " Nah mate, it's Air Quality Index

MC: "Not the best of situations, by at least Steven Lynch's piece made for entertaining reading. Thanks, Ekanth, for the hyperlink :)" cheers

debarshi: "has there been historically any international matches "fogged out"?" No, but there have been some interesting ones, including burnt toast, a mouse and a sun strike. There's also a quiz on interruptions by Sreshth and Yash.

Cobus: "@Reinier BOTHA: Off Course .We in the Northern Cape are light years ahed with Cricket technology"

Raghav: "That's not fog sir, it's smog.With the current AQI at 400 I really wish that these cricket matches are scheduled with keeping AQI in mind. Honestly such AQI would seriously harm players"

6:32pm Confirmed, fog is the reason for the delay. Hardik Pandya was shown wearing a mask. Robin Uthappa says delaying is a counterintuitive decision as the fog will only worsen.

6:25pm The toss is scheduled for 6:30pm, however, it has been delayed. An inspection has been scheduled at 6:50pm local.. We're not sure of the reason yet, will put it out right after it's known.

Reinier BOTHA: "@Prudhvi When I played cricket for my village, Calvinia in South Africa in 1997 all the games were on Wednesday nights, under bad lights. We didn't have any fancy white balls so we played with rubber balls that got spray painted neon orange/neon pink after every few overs. 2 balls were used - one dried while the other one was used until the paint was gone and then switched and sprayed again. Were years ahead of our time!" Amaze

Neelesh : "AQI of Lucknow is 418 currently. Don't think it will improve"

Prudhvi : "Any innovations in comments for such instances in future ? I suggest painting the ball flouroscent " As long as we don't have to make the text blurry, we should be fine

venu: "Can't they just blow the fog? is it not possible" We'll need a giant, but that could lead to other problems, like getting the giant out. Sounds like a metaphor...

Prudhvi: "For fog is it just a visual inspection or any light meter stuff ?" Surely visual. The vision of the other end of the ground from one end seems to be an indicator to go by. There might be low-distance checks too. Should make for an interesting umpire's interview

Adarsh Singh : "I am sitting 1 km away from the stadium. The fog/smog is already there. That could be the probable cause of delay. If it is, It's bad news because that will only get worse."

Ash: "SA will need some Luck-now!" salutes

6:20pm South Africa have made three changes a common move. They're rotating players like Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj, Lutho Sipamla among others. Let's see who sits out today. Their approach to batting has been conventional - read the conditions and take it from there. heir bowlers were fantastic two games ago but couldn't start well last game when they were defending a low score.

AtitS: "Thanks Ekanth. sorry my question around Wicket column was bit different e.g. you mention 2/100 and some mention 100/2." No worries, just to clear it up, we mention 100/2, Australian broadcasts use 2/100

AtitS: "Before the start, quick question on scoring displays. You display the Wicket column to the left while I was watching Ashes, they put on the right side. what's the logic and what's correct?" There's no right or wrong, they're conventions. In fact, Australian scoreboards have wickets to the left, rest of the cricketing world has it on the right. For bowler's figures, wickets are on the left.

Pratyaksh : "If Gill flops today as well, how many more chances do you think he'll get ?" Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if he plays all the T20Is leading into the world cup

Prudhvi : "Time for QDK to show why 1Cr is a bargain" Oh yeah, MI will be happy though. And by the way hope y'all caught and enjoyed our coverage of the IPL auction, and thanks for tuning into the live blog. It was, as kids call it, a vibe there.

6:10pm India have most boxes ticked. Nonetheless, as Monga wrote in the preview, they carry the weight of expectations. The lulls in form of both Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav (who's actually said at least twice that he's out of runs, not form) have led to scrutiny. Will that lead to a change in selection today? Unlikely, but let's see.

Sowmya : "Given the cold wave all over the country now , swing

Mustafa Moudi: "Wishing a Very Happy Birthday to Quinton De Kock. He is playing his 100th T20I today. What a day for him to reach the milestone !!"

Shashikant : "Josh is high ! But I am afraid ,the weather is quite chilling and a bit foggy."

Match Preview by Sidharth Monga Freedom is South Africa's biggest asset as India look to extend proud record

Don't know who the DJ at the stadium but they should get a raise. Banger after banger being played - Jai ho, Nagada, and now To Brazil. The fans are cosy under multi-layered clothing on a cold evening. It's currently 16-degrees celsius as per the BBC and is projected to go slightly lower as the evening goes on. Don't think it'll be as cold as it was in New Chandigarh and Dharamsala, but chaat sellers at the ground will be happy.

6pm Hello people, how's the mood, how's the josh (enthusiasm)? We're on the mean streets of bilateral T20Is which promises to go into the highways because of the upcoming T20 World Cup. India have a 2-1 lead and can seal the series tonight. South Africa have been happy to experiment with their sides and will hope to create a blueprint that they can carry into the tournament. They've been hit-and-miss, can they bring it together tonight to create a decider?