ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Victor Gonzalez survived a wet and wild TC America TCR/TCA feature to collect the TCR victory Sunday afternoon at Road America.

After a slight delay due to rainy conditions, the second race of the weekend for the TCR and TCA classes got underway with championship leader Michael Hurczyn leading the field to green after two laps behind the safety car to test conditions.

Heading into turn five at the start, Michael McCann Jr. went wide, falling to the back of the field from fifth position. At the same time, Nick Wittmer would shoot past Tomas Mejia for the lead in TCA as Mejia would fall to third in class as Tyler Maxson would slot into second position. Maxson would then have a moment and fall to fifth position in class seeing Chris Haldeman inherit second in the TCA class.

At the start of lap two, leader Michael Hurczyn would go off track at the fast turn one, handing the lead to Gonzalez. Hurczyn would continue, landing in fourth position. Gonzalez would pull out an eleven second lead over Nate Vincent in second and James Walker in third. Gonzalez would control the rest of the race, and go on to claim his second win of the season.

“I’m so happy and I know everybody back home is watching the race and are happy too. I have to thank the team and HPD Honda for giving us such a great car, I’m looking forward to one more in Las Vegas,” said Gonzalez.

Two laps later Hurczyn would get past Walker for third and set off for his teammate in second position.

Late in the race Hurczyn would get past Vincent with the FCP Euro teammates finishing second and third overall, with Walker coming home fourth.

With 24 minutes remaining, Haldeman would get past Wittmer for the TCA lead at turn 14. Two minutes later, TCA championship Tyler Maxson would face engine issues and pull into the pits. Maxson would continue a few laps later in the 12th position, one lap down.

At the 20 minute mark, Haldeman would then have a moment of his own, falling to third, giving Wittmer the class lead and promoting Mat Pombo.

With 15 minutes remaining, Pombo would power past Wittmer for the TCA class lead with the top three in class running nose to tail. Three minutes later Wittmer would get past Pombo for the lead at the outside of turn one with less than a second separating the three TCA class leaders.

Four laps later, Pombo would make a move on the outside of turn seven around Wittmer and take the class lead with under six minutes remaining in the race. Haldeman would follow Pombo through, demoting Wittmer to third in two corners. On the next lap, Haldeman would go wide at turn five, giving second place back to Wittmer with only two laps remaining.

On the final lap, Wittmer would sneak past Pombo for the lead at Canada Corner, but Pombo would fall right behind the No. 91 at turn 14, then win the drag race up the front straight to claim the class victory by a mere one-tenth of a second.

“It was a hard fight the whole time and everyone was respectful. On the last lap, I had to lift a little, but luckily Wittmer made a little mistake out of 14, so I was able to go left and drag race up the straight to take the win. It was a great race with Nick [Wittmer] and [Chris} Haldeman. Very fun,” said Pombo.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Trent Hindman and Alan Byrnjolfsson piloted the Park Place Motorsports No. 77 Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR to victory in Sunday’s Pirelli GT4 America SprintX event at Road America.

Guy Cosmo and the No. 89 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4 led the field to green under wet and slippery conditions. As the field crossed the starting line, the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR would stop on track but would restart, continuing in 15th position.

On lap two, Alec Udell and the No. 2 GMG Racing Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR would power past Gregory Liefooghe’s No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 for third overall and begin to hunt down Szymczak in second. Three laps later Udell would get past Szymczak, but would face a 10 second gap to the leader.

At the same time, Hindman would get past Steven McAleer in the No. 29 Classic BMW M4 GT4 for fifth overall, but was not done as he then overtook Liefooghe for fourth on the next lap. With 27 minutes left on the clock, Hindman would then get past Szymczak for third overall with a daring pass on the outside of turn one.

After the pit window for mandatory driver changes ended, Patrick Byrne, in for Guy Cosmo in the No. 89, would lose the overall lead and fall behind the No. 2 of Jason Bell and No. 77 of Byrnjolfsson.

Later in the outlap Bell would go wide at turn six, handing the lead to Brynjolfsson with 18 minutes to go. Brynjolfsson would never look back and cruise to the overall victory by nearly 22 seconds.

“I love Road America and I love driving in the rain, so today feels great to get the win. It helped racing in the Sprint event earlier in the day for the conditions, but we’re very excited,” said Brynjolfsson.

Five minutes later Byrne would fall behind the No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 of Matthew Fassnacht. Fassnacht would then power past Bell for second position at the Billy Mitchell Bend, where he would finish. The No. 34 would claim the SprintX East Am-class victory with the No. 89 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4 finishing third overall, second in the GT4 East Pro-Am class.

Matt Travis and the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsceh 718 Cayman CS MR would fight back through the grid and claim the SprintX Pro-Am win, finishing fourth overall with Sean Quinlan and the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 finishing second in SprintX Pro-Am, fifth overall.

Drew Staveley and Karl Wittmer, in the No. 24 Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang GT4, would come home sixth overall, third in the SprintX East Pro-Am category with Justin Raphael and the No. 29 Classic BMW M4 GT4 finishing seventh overall, fourth in the SprintX East Pro-Am class.

The No. 92 Classic BMW M4 GT4 of Chris Ohmacht and Toby Grahovec would finish eighth overall, third in the SprintX Pro-Am category.

After a strong start, the No. 2 GMG Racing Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR of Bell and Udell would face an issue and tumble through the order, falling to ninth overall, fourth in the SprintX Pro-Am class.

Michael Dinan and Robby Foley would bring the No. 21 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR home 10th overall, fifth in the SprintX Pro-Am class.

Preston Calvert and Matthew Keegan would take the SprintX Am class victory, finishing 11th overall.

MONTEREY, Calif. – The good news for Kyle Kirkwood is that he needed only to start Sunday’s Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to claim the series title.

So when he was involved in an accident on the opening corner of the final race of the season, it was nothing more than a disappointment and a minor inconvenience.

With Kirkwood out of contention for the win, his closest championship rival, polesitter Rasmus Lindh, was able to emerge from a dramatic 25-lap race to claim his third victory of the season. In the final reckoning he was two points shy of Kirkwood’s victorious tally of 419.

“We wanted to end the season with a bang, get into double-digit victories and take eight in a row, but the championship was the main goal,” said Kirkwood. “That’s all that matters now. We’re over the moon, the race is minute compared to that. But I can’t thank the RP Motorsports team enough, they’ve been flawless since Road America. The car has just been on rails. The only times we haven’t won were because we got crashed out. To walk away with this title means so much. I don’t know if I would have believed it possible before Road America, so many things had to go right. But Juncos was outstanding as well. Rasmus has been on the podium in almost every race; we needed every one of those wins.

“Honestly, I haven’t given a thought to next year yet. It will probably start to sink in tomorrow night at the banquet, but right now we’re going to enjoy this moment with the team.”

Canadian Parker Thompson charged through the field to finish second for Abel Motorsports, while Kory Enders matched his career-best finish in third.

The initial start was clean, with Lindh making a solid start from the pole and leading the way toward turn two, chased by Kirkwood, who had qualified second fastest for RP Motorsport USA. Behind, though, Kirkwood’s teammate Artem Petrov tangled with Sting Ray Robb, then lost control and spun directly into the path of Kirkwood. Both teammates were out on the spot.

After three laps behind the pace car while the two damaged cars were removed from the racing surface, Lindh took off again into the lead, chased by Singapore’s Danial Frost.

A mistake by Lindh on lap six allowed Frost to take over the lead. Lindh recovered quickly enough to resume in second ahead of the DEForce pair of Enders and Moises de la Vara and the two Abel cars of Thompson and Jacob Abel.

The next drama came on lap 14, when Frost’s car suddenly speared off the road at turn nine and out of the race due to a suspected suspension failure following contact on the first lap.

The pace car was scrambled again to remove Frost’s damaged car, whereupon Lindh took off once again into the lead. He quickly managed to eke out some breathing space over Enders, who in turn came under increasing pressure from Thompson. Unfortunately, a slight slip by Enders with just four laps to go enabled Thompson to complete his impressive drive through the field.

All of that happened behind Lindh, who took the win by .868 of a second.

“I had a good jump at the start and I saw that Kyle was on the outside, so I went inside to protect and we grabbed the lead,” Lindh said. “I did a mistake midway through the race that lost us the lead, but I was able to get it back when Danial had his problems. It’s good to end the season this way. The Juncos team did such a great job this year. We were fighting for podiums and wins at every single race. The car has been just perfect. It was a consistent year, so I’m happy in the end.”

Enders held on for third ahead of teammate de la Vara, who claimed his best career finish, with Abel completing the top six just ahead of Robb, who did well to recover so well after being forced to make a pit stop following the first-lap incident.

MONTEREY, Calif. – As soon as he climbed from his No. 79 Kelly-Moss Road and Race Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machine after Sunday’s second race of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama doubleheader at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Roman De Angelis held up both hands, with all 10 fingers extended.

That’s because the 18-year-old Canadian had just parked his car in victory lane for the 10th time this year. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the 45-minute race, De Angelis took advantage as slower traffic boxed in race leader and polesitter Max Root in the No. 7 Wright Motorsports Porsche to take the lead coming out of turn five.

He then pulled away before a full-course caution came out for an incident in turn three involving the No. 18 of Richard Edge and the No. 19 of Juan Manuel Fayen. Both drivers were evaluated and released from the care center, but the race ended under full-course caution, giving De Angelis his first victory since sweeping both races of the doubleheader at Road America last month.

The victory enabled De Angelis to extend his lead to 58 points, 474-416, over Root in the driver standings for the Platinum Cup class for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars built between 2017 and 2019. De Angelis can clinch the title if his lead is 35 points or greater following the next race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 10.

“I think it was pretty important to get that one off my chest,” De Angelis said. “Max had a really good run there with three races in a row. We had a tire go in (race one at) Virginia and then I made a mistake myself in race two. Then, yesterday he just outpaced us.

“I think it shows a lot. Coming into the weekend, I had never been here and the guys had never with the Gen 2 GT3 Cup car. We put in a lot of work last night to figure out what the issues were from yesterday and clearly it paid off for us.”

Root led a race-high 23 laps in what was a 30-lap race, but his winning streak was snapped at three consecutive races. Nevertheless, he came home in second place for his 11th podium result of the season and fifth in a row.

Canadian driver Jeff Kingsley completed the podium with a third-place showing in the No. 3 JDX Racing Porsche. It was Kingsley’s third podium of the season and first since a second-place result at Road America.

In the Platinum Masters class for drivers 45 years of age and over, Alan Metni returned to victory lane in the No. 99 Kelly-Moss/AM Motorsports Porsche for the first time since Race 2 at Road America last month. Metni held the Platinum Masters lead throughout the race en route to his sixth class win of the season.

It also allowed Metni to slightly extend his Platinum Masters points lead to 15, 435-420, over No. 20 Wright Motorsports Porsche driver Fred Poordad.

After winning the Platinum Masters race on Saturday, Poordad finished second on Sunday in the No. 20. Completing the class podium was Chris Bellomo in the No. 63 Moorespeed Porsche with a third-place run. Bellomo finished second in his first race in the series on Saturday, wrapping up his debut weekend with a pair of trophies.

In the Gold Cup class for 911 GT3 Cup cars built between 2014 and 2016, Sebastian Carazo led every lap in the No. 27 NGT Motorsport Porsche to earn his 10th victory of the season. Carazo now has finished on the podium in all 14 races so far this season, and leads the Gold Cup standings by 47 points, 476-429, over Rob Ferriol in the No. 5 Moorespeed Porsche.

An added bonus for Carazo came in the form of the Yokohama Hard Charger Award as the Gold Cup driver who improved the most overall positions from start to finish in Race 2. Carazo finished ninth overall after starting 10th.

Ferriol finished second, followed by Curt Swearingin, who finished third in the No. 17 ACI Motorsports Porsche. Both drivers finished in the same positions in Saturday’s race as well.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Pro/Am Class driver duo Mike Hedlund and Dane Cameron, driving for local favorites RealTime Racing, took the overall and Pro/Am Blancpain GT World Challenge America victories at Road America on Sunday afternoon.

The Pro Division R. Ferri Motorsport team of Daniel Serra and Toni Vilander crossed the line in second overall and first in class.

The 90-minute contest was held under threatening skies and damp track conditions after rain had fallen on Road America for much of the morning and early afternoon. At the drop of the green, second-on-the-grid Cameron, piloting the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX drag raced pole sitter Kyle Marcelli in the No. 80 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX into turn one and deftly maneuvered the outside line and into the lead.

With Marcelli slotting into second, Pro/Am division driver Matt Campbell in the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R settled into third, while Pro division driver Alvaro Parente in the no. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 rocketed up from his sixth starting position and into fourth. Ryan Dalziel, in the DXDT Racing No. 63 Mercedes-AMG GT3, slotted into fifth with Vilander, driving the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3, shuffling back from his fifth on the grid starting position and into sixth. Am division pilot Takuya Shirasaka in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW F13 M6 GT3 slotted into 12th overall.

Cameron then set sail building a more than five-second lead over Marcelli leading up to the pit window with 50 minutes remaining in the contest. The lead group all held their positions as the pit window opened. Cameron was the last competitor onto pit lane handing the reins over to Hedlund.

When the window closed, Hedlund maintained a three-second lead over Barkey who had taken over for Marcelli, with Anthony Imperato who had taken over for Campbell in third overall. Andy Soucek, who took over from Parente maintained fourth. Serra took over from Vilander and began pursuing K-PAX Racing’s Rodrigo Baptista in the No. 3 Bentley Continental GT3.

With Hedlund hitting his marks and maintaining the lead up from, the battle behind raged as Serra closed on Baptista battling for fifth overall. Barkey in second defended well against Imperato as Parente closed in on the Pro/Am competitors running in fourth. Late in the contest on lap 33, Parente moved around Imperato and into third overall and looked to close on Barkey. Meanwhile, Serra continued to look for a way around Baptista.

Then the DXDT Racing No. 63 Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by David Askew slid off and into the barrier through turn 11. While Race Control issued a yellow and directed competitors to safety car speed, Askew was able to get his machine under power and proceeded to bring it into pit lane for repair. Race control issued a return to full green conditions and the front runners all returned to pursuing Hedlund. Serra was able to maintain his momentum and it allowed him to vault up into second overall by lap 36.

Serra then pursued Hedlund for the overall race lead with under four laps to go, but the driver of the No. 43 machine put his head down, hit his marks and crossed the line .495 seconds ahead of the driver of the No. 61 machine. With the second-place finish, Vilander wins the 2019 Pro Division driver’s championship. Soucek (Parente) finished third and second overall in the Pro Division, Baptista (Soulet) finished fourth and third in the Pro Division. Barkey (Marcelli) finished sixth overall and second in Pro/Am, while Imperato (Campbell) finished seventh overall and third in Pro/Am. Am division pilot Naoto Takeda (Shirasaka) in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW F13 M6 GT3 finished 11th overall.

The victory for the RealTime Racing duo was the squad’s 100th series victory.

“I didn’t even know Realtime had that many wins until after Sonoma and after that both Dane and I said to each other okay now there’s a little bit of pressure because that’s a big deal, especially if we were able to get it here at their home track so it’s kind of been the perfect weekend,” said Hedlund. “I can’t ask for anything more, the team did a really amazing job, we had no mistakes, pitstops were excellent, the car was good from the time we unloaded. Even with this questionable weather which mixes it up, everyone executed well, and we were able to get a win.”

JACKSON, Miss. – Sebastian Munoz made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff, and then beat Sungjae Im with a par on the first extra hole to win the Sanderson Farms Championship for his first PGA Tour victory.

Munoz, who closed with a 2-under 70, made it two straight weeks for South American winners, following Joaquin Niemann winning last week at the Greenbrier.

"Jaco's win gave me the belief I needed, the little extra belief I'm good enough, I'm here," Munoz said.

Niemann won by six shots at the Greenbrier. Munoz had it far more difficult.

He was among four players in the mix over the back nine at the Country Club of Jackson, and it looked as though the 21-year-old Im would snatch his first victory when he made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th, got up-and-down from a bunker on the reachable 15th for birdie, and made it three straight birdies with a 12-foot putt.

He closed with a 66, and that looked like it might be enough.

Byeong Hun An made consecutive bogeys to fall out of the mix. Carlos Ortiz couldn't get a putt to fall.

Munoz lost two good scoring opportunities with a drive well right of the fairway on the 14th, and then flubbing a lob shot left of the 15th green that went into the bunker, leading to bogey. Down to his last hole, he played it to perfection with a big drive, an approach to 15 feet below the hole and the most important putt of his young career.

The 26-year-old from Bogota, who played his college golf at North Texas, poured in the birdie putt to join Im at 18-under 270.

"We just decided on a line, kept it as as simple as can and just strike the putt," Munoz said.

The playoff on the 18th hole wasn't as clean.

Im went left into the Bermuda rough and caught a flier, sending the ball well over the green against the grandstand. Munoz was in the right rough and, expecting the ball to come out hot, he abbreviated his swing and it came out some 30 yards short. His chip-and-run rolled out to just under 4 feet. Im did well to pitch out of rough to just over 6 feet by the hole, but his par putt didn't even touch the cup and he started walking soon after he hit it.

Munoz rolled in the par putt and the celebration was on.

"I'm speechless," he said.

This is the first time since the tournament began in 1986 that it was not held the same week as another PGA Tour event with a stronger field. That means it gets full FedEx Cup points, and Munoz earned a spot in the Masters for the first time.

Im, voted PGA Tour rookie of the year last season for reaching the Tour Championship, is still looking for his first win.

An wound up alone in third with a birdie on the final hole for a 69, while Ortiz had to settle for a 71 and a tie for fourth with Kevin Streelman (64).

The playoff ended a peculiar streak of 38 consecutive PGA Tour events that were decided in regulation, dating to Charles Howell III winning in a playoff at Sea Island at the end of last year.

LONDON -- It pays to be on guard when Liverpool are preparing to take a set-piece.

Divock Origi's Champions League semifinal-deciding goal against Barcelona last season was the result of a quick-thinking corner by Trent Alexander-Arnold, and it was with similar dead-ball creativity that the European champions fooled Chelsea in a hard-fought 2-1 Premier League win at Stamford Bridge.

Both of Liverpool's goals were scored in the first half and both came from free kicks that saw back-heels change the angle of attack sufficiently to throw Chelsea off-guard. In the 14th minute, after coordination by visiting skipper Jordan Henderson, Mohamed Salah flicked the ball into the path of Alexander-Arnold, who crashed a glorious shot into the top-right corner.

Sixteen minutes later, wide on the left side, Alexander-Arnold nudged the ball to Andy Robertson, who crossed for the unmarked Roberto Firmino to plant an emphatic header past Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Neither of Liverpool's flying full-backs has enjoyed an untroubled start to the season. Alexander-Arnold was criticised for his defensive contributions early in the campaign, while Robertson received so much abuse on Twitter for conceding a penalty in Liverpool's midweek Champions League loss to Napoli that he temporarily deactivated his account.

- Chelsea ratings: Abraham, Kepa best of the bunch
- Liverpool ratings: Alexander-Arnold, Firmino impress
- O'Hanlon: Set-piece prowess can win you trophies

But with both players providing decisive contributions at both ends of the pitch, Sunday's trip to west London was more in keeping with the heights they consistently hit last season.

Alexander-Arnold's goal was his first since he curled in a free kick at Watford last November. (His deflected cross that looped in during last month's 3-0 win at Burnley went in the books as a Chris Wood own goal.)

Robertson, meanwhile, supplied his usual quota of dangerous crosses from the left, and it was his name on the lips of the visiting support when the final whistle sounded after a typically powerful surge from deep that drew a booking for Chelsea's Marcos Alonso and sealed the victory.

Because by that stage, the visitors were hanging on after a superb 71st-minute goal by N'Golo Kante, who was making his first appearance since Aug. 18 after overcoming an ankle injury, gave Chelsea hope. The French midfielder surged to the edge of the box and brilliantly steered a shot inside the right post.

Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in only one of their nine games in all competitions this season, and the hosts came close to snatching an equaliser in the dying stages. From two left-wing Alonso crosses, substitute Michy Batshuayi glanced a header wide before Mason Mount swept a shot into the Matthew Harding Stand.

It was a far cry from the first half, when Chelsea gave Liverpool just a couple of scares: Cesar Azpilicueta had a goal chalked off for offside following the intervention of the VAR and Tammy Abraham squandered a one-on-one against Adrian.

Liverpool's 15th consecutive league victory saw the leaders reestablish a five-point lead over Manchester City and made them the first team in English top-flight history to win their opening six games in successive seasons.

A more telling statistic, however, is that this was only the second time Jurgen Klopp's side had won away to one of their Big Six rivals in 13 attempts. Last season's extraordinarily taut title run-in rendered draws every bit as damaging as defeats, and Klopp was delighted to have come through this particular ordeal with three points in the bag.

"It's a difficult place to come, so it feels like a big one," the Liverpool manager said. "The boys fought really hard. I don't think there's any other way to play here."

Defensive concerns continue to beset Klopp's opposite number, Frank Lampard. After seven games in charge, he has yet to see his side keep a clean sheet, while only Norwich and bottom-of-the-table club Watford have conceded more than the 13 shipped by Chelsea.

Moreover, first-half injuries that forced Emerson Palmieri and Andreas Christensen to hobble off will not help matters. Palmieri aggravated a thigh injury, while Christensen took a bang to the knee after playing an unwitting role in both of Liverpool's goals.

His clumsy challenge on Sadio Mane conceded the free kick from which Alexander-Arnold opened the scoring, before Firmino found space between Christensen and Alonso for what proved to be the winner.

"Details lose you games," Lampard said. "The Firmino goal loses us that game because he can't have a free header in our six-yard box."

Nevertheless, the Chelsea boss was heartened by his side's second-half display and praised 21-year-old centre-back Fikayo Tomori for the manner in which he kept Salah quiet.

Lampard is still without a home win but does not feel the quality of his team's performances is fairly reflected by their position in the bottom half of the table. In that respect, he could only look at Liverpool with envy.

"We need to aspire to a level like Liverpool's," he said. "They come here and probably don't play their best, but win the game."

Guyana Amazon Warriors 81 for 2 (King 51*) beat Barbados Tridents 138 (Duminy 38, Green 4-14, Tahir 2-22) by 12 runs (DLS method)

Guyana Amazon Warriors sealed a playoff spot in the 2019 CPL with their 12-run win (DLS method) in a rain-truncated chase against Barbados Tridents. Their win was built on yet another impressive performance from their bowlers, particularly their spinners. Chris Green took a career-best 4 for 14, and Imran Tahir and Shoaib Malik took three between them as the spinners combined for figures of 11.3-0-46-7 to dismiss Tridents for 138. Tridents' spinners couldn't come into play as effectively, as Brandon King's unbeaten fifty led the way in a chase that was stopped after 11 overs by rain with Amazon Warriors comfortably ahead of the par score.

They now have 12 points in six matches, while Tridents stay in fourth place with four points in five games.

A cracking start with the bat

After being put in, Tridents were served several short and wide balls by Keemo Paul in the first over, with a free hit also thrown in. They made 17 off that over, but Johnson Charles had also departed, slicing a cut to third man.

Alex Hales, returning from the Vitality Blast, found his timing and played smart shots - flicks over square leg and one imperious cut through the covers. JP Duminy, caught in a rut last match, came out attacking too, picking up 14 off three in one sequence. Once again, it was Paul at the receiving end, with his second over going for 18. Tridents were 63 for 2 after the Powerplay.

The spinners turn the game

The very first ball after the Powerplay, Hales crunched a slog sweep against Tahir, but couldn't get enough elevation on it. He picked out Hetmyer at deep midwicket. Tahir made it a double-wicket over off the last ball, screeching desperately as Jonathan Carter was struck on the front pad. After long consideration, the umpire nodded his head and raised his finger. Carter wasn't pleased, but replays showed the legbreak had turned enough to hit him in line.

Jason Holder then struggled during his short stay, being beaten twice on the inside edge by Malik and Tahir, before chipping one to long-on off Malik. Amazon Warriors had used spin to apply a squeeze in their last match as well, with Malik playing the fourth spinner's role. On Sunday, he bowled four overs for ten runs.

With the middle order melting rapidly, Green was back to bowl in the final stages of the innings and had Ashley Nurse stumped, Duminy caught at deep square leg, and closed the innings off with wickets of consecutive deliveries.

A no-fuss chase

Chandrapaul Hemraj struggled for rhythm but did just enough to put up yet another formidable opening stand with King. They put on 61 in seven overs before Hemraj chipped one back off Sandeep Lamichhane. He'd hit one handsome shot, a back-foot punch over extra cover for six previously but fell for 20 off 23.

Shimron Hetmyer was out top-edging Duminy next over, but King had done enough to keep the pressure at bay. He hit three sixes, one running down the track and two rooted to the crease to lift over the leg side, and hit back-to-back boundaries square on either side just before rain stopped play. By that time, he was on 49 off 30 with Malik at the other end. The DLS par score was 61 for 2, and Amazon Warriors were 16 ahead.

When play resumed an hour and 15 minutes later, the revised target was 97 - 20 to win off four overs - and King brought up his fifty in the only over bowled before rain returned.

India's captain Virat Kohli revealed that Rishabh Pant was not supposed to bat at No. 4 in the third T20I against South Africa in Bengaluru. He admitted to a "miscommunication" between Pant and Shreyas Iyer, saying the latter was slated to bat at No.4 if India were two down within the 10th over.

As it turned out, India were 63 for 2 in the eighth over when Shikhar Dhawan advanced down the pitch and carved left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi to extra-cover. However, Pant walked in ahead of Iyer, and Kohli put it down to a communication breakdown in the dugout.

"I think there was a miscommunication there," Kohli said. "That's what I understood afterwards. The batting coach [Vikram Rathour] had a word with both of them and there was a misunderstanding of who has to go [in] at what stage of the game. So, it was a bit funny afterwards because they both wanted to walk in. It would have been very funny if both had reached the pitch… three batsmen [would have been] in the field. Yeah, I think it was a miscommunication in the middle.

"We had it planned according to phases. So, after 10 overs we decided Rishabh would walk in. Before that Shreyas had to walk in. So, I think both of them got confused and didn't realise who had to walk in at what stage of the game."

There has been some debate over Pant's batting position and shot selection in recent times. Coach Ravi Shastri was critical of Pant's shot selection in the Caribbean and it came into the spotlight once again when he heaved a half-tracker straight into the lap of short fine leg against South Africa in Mohali.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar suggested that slotting Pant in at No. 5 would ease the pressure on him, helping him play his attacking, natural game.

"Giving him a bit of breathing space by slotting him at No. 5 could also help, for at that number he will invariably come in to bat where his aggressive batting is needed from the start rather than when he has to build his and the team's innings," Gavaskar wrote in Sunday Mid-Day. "Just like a little tweak in the grip can make a world of difference to a player as a bowler or as batsman, so also a little tweak in the batting order could change the fortunes of a player."

After coming in at No. 4 on Sunday, Pant tiptoed to 12 off 17 balls before fiercely slog-sweeping seamer Dwaine Pretorius over the fine-leg boundary. He added just one to his tally before holing out to long-off against left-arm fingerspinner Bjorn Fortuin for 19 off 20 balls. Two balls later, Iyer was stumped off a leg-side wide for 5 off 8 balls. From 63 for 1 India lost 5 for 35 and eventually the game.

Having spent his entire IPL career at Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli knows that it is easier to chase at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He knows that the dew often sets in later in the evening and neutralises the threat posed by his spinners. Yet, with the series on the line, he chose to bat first in the third T20I against South Africa. He challenged himself and his team-mates to step out of their comfort zones, as India tune up for the T20 World Cup in Australia next year.

After Kohli became the first captain to decide against chasing in six T20Is at this venue, before Sunday, several batsmen dared to jump out of the crease to manufacture scoring opportunities, a departure from India's ODI-style T20 approach. Rishabh Pant was trialled at No.4 once again (although he wasn't supposed to bat at that spot), but India's experiments didn't quite come off, and a revamped South Africa side claimed a series-levelling victory.

Left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks had Rohit Sharma nicking off for 9 in the third over, but Shikhar Dhawan laid down the marker when he hit Andile Phehlukwayo for back-to-back boundaries in the next over. He first shuffled across to off, aiming to pick up the ball over midwicket, but found enough time to adjust and punch it through the line. He then looked to cart the next ball over extra-cover, but instead only managed to carve it down to the third-man fence.

Dhawan usually prefers to bide his time - be it in T20 or ODI cricket - but here he hung up caution and decided to have a proper crack at South Africa's bowlers. He slugged left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shami's first two balls for six. In the next over he fiercely slog-swept left-arm fingerspinner Bjorn Fortuin through square leg. He regularly flitted around the crease in a bid to force the bowlers into bowling in his swinging arc.

India were fairly well placed at 62 for 1 in seven overs, but then the pitch suddenly became slower and South Africa's bowlers exploited it efficiently to throw a spanner in their works. When Dhawan advanced down the pitch to Shamsi once again, the spinner cleverly tossed the ball up higher and shifted his lines wider to draw a mis-hit to extra-cover. Soon after, Kohli similarly sent a full ball from Kagiso Rabada in the air where Phehlukwayo plucked an outstanding catch at deep midwicket.

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Despite the pitch getting slower and wickets falling at both ends, India were keen to find higher gears. Pant took on Fortuin, but the left-armer slid one across the batsman and had him slicing a catch to long-off. Two balls later, Shreyas Iyer ventured out of the crease and was stumped by a leg-side wide.

Suddenly India lost 4 for 29 and although they had depth in their batting line-up - Washington Sundar at No. 9 and Deepak Chahar at 10 - they couldn't get the big hits away on a pitch that was now very responsive to the cutters and change-ups from Hendricks and Phehlukwayo. Not even Hardik Pandya could get the big hits away.

India scrambled only four boundaries after Iyer's dismissal in the 13th over and ended with a below-par 134 for 9.

"Yes, we wanted to go for a big score and that's exactly why we batted first," Kohli said of India's fresh T20 approach. "In the past, in certain games in T20 cricket, we have been 20-30 runs short, batting first. "That has cost us the game. So, the idea again, as I said at the toss, was to come out of our comfort zone and then try to get that big score because we are batting till No. 9. But quickly we realised the pitch didn't allow us to keep doing that."

Kohli reckoned that India would have been better off had they recalibrated their focus to 170 "rather than thinking of 200".

"Because of the intent we showed the pitch obviously didn't allow us to get to that total and we kept losing wickets. They [South Africa] hit the right areas and understood the pitch. It was a combination of good bowling and not great decision-making. These kinds of games will keep happening as long as we are wanting to come out of our comfort zones as a team and putting ourselves in a situation, which could be the case in a big game in a big tournament."

Kohli's bat-first decision also handicapped his bowlers who had to cope with the dew in the second innings. While Washington came away with 4-0-27-0 and Deepak Chahar found swing in the early exchanges, Navdeep Saini and Krunal Pandya struggled with their lines and lengths. Nearly every Indian fielder had a towel, often furiously wiping the ball with it in the break between overs.

Quinton de Kock took advantage of it, making a bruising, unbeaten 79 off 52 balls, and finished off the chase with nine wickets and 19 balls to spare. While such a heavy defeat might invite some pressure, Kohli said that India are ready to take more risks and "take the toss out of the way" in their run to the T20 World Cup.

"Nothing is a given or a guarantee before you start playing," Kohli said. "I think if we as a team are willing to get out of our comfort zones a lot more, then we will be unfazed with what happens at the toss. That's why we have people batting till nine. Unless you do that and start taking those risks, you are always going to be put under pressure somewhere or the other. We want to make sure we iron all of those things out before we head into the World Cup."