LUCKNOW What was billed as a high-voltage India vs South Africa clash on a winter evening in Lucknow on Wednesday turned into an anti-climax for thousands of spectators – the fourth T20 international of the five-match series was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to dense fog in the state capital.
T20 world champions India lead the five-match series 2-1 ahead of the final match in Ahmedabad on Friday.
With visibility dipping to near zero, the toss at Ekana Stadium was postponed repeatedly before officials finally pulled the plug at 9.30pm. As players waited and fans shivered, #Lucknow began trending on X, not for cricketing heroics, but for razor-sharp wit, memes and collective disbelief.
As fog engulfed the stadium and cricket took a back seat, Lucknow still found a way to play, this time, with humour, hashtags and hard questions about winter-night cricket in the north.
“Aur janaab, aapke yahan kya chal raha hai? Hamaare yahan to fog chal raha hai. Itna fog hai ki toss nahi ho paa raha. Gazab beizzati hai,” wrote X user Manish Yadav, summing up the mood in a post.
Another user, Piyush, wrote, “Inspection pe inspection, inspection pe inspection… final decision nahi mil raha. Mil raha hai to sirf inspection pe inspection.”
{{/usCountry}}Another user, Piyush, wrote, “Inspection pe inspection, inspection pe inspection… final decision nahi mil raha. Mil raha hai to sirf inspection pe inspection.”
{{/usCountry}}Poetry, too, found its way into the timeline. Adil Wasim wrote: “Yeh match nahi aasan, itna hi samajh lijiye. Ek fog ka dariya hai, aur khel kar jaana hai,” a line that was widely shared as the evening progressed.
Satire soon followed. Author Alok Puranik mocked the decision-makers, stating: “The one who fixed a December night match in Lucknow lived on Mars and had never encountered North Indian fog...the evening felt more like a ghost show than a cricket match.”
Inside the stadium, frustration was palpable. Many fans had arranged passes while others had paid hefty amounts for tickets, and all waited for hours amid the biting cold, only to head back home disappointed, battling traffic snarls on Shaheed Path.
The match was scheduled to start at 7pm, but when there was still no clarity by 9pm, X erupted. Some users lashed out at the BCCI and authorities for poor city and time-slot selection during peak winter, while others took it sportingly, flooding timelines with memes.
“Why not have T20 games in the 2pm slot during winters?” asked cricket enthusiast Narendra Rawat. “It’s always foggy in the evenings. Even TV viewers can’t enjoy Ekana’s aesthetics, forget broadcast quality.”
Echoing the sentiment, a page called Honest Cricket Fan posted: “That’s why T20Is should be arranged during daytime in winter, especially in northern India. There are always high chances of this kind of disruption.”
Another user wrote bluntly, “In this weather, there is no logic scheduling a match anywhere in North India. The BCCI should have consulted locals while preparing the schedule.”
For some, the disappointment was personal. Newly-wed Ashish Adarsh, who attended the match with his wife, said: “We were very excited, it was our first outing after our wedding a few weeks back. But we are returning home dejected.”
Other fans like Ayushi Singh and Deepak Kumar also shared their ordeal: “We left office early, paid ₹2,500 each for the ticket, battled traffic, and now going back without seeing a single ball bowled.”