Sehwag's dismissal was an early blow to Indian hopes

India and South Africa were declared joint winners of the tournament after rain intervened for the second day running.

Following a wash-out of Sunday's scheduled final, play started on time on the reserve day, but only 17.1 overs were possible before the weather closed in again.

The organisers called in a helicopter to help dry the outfield but match referee Clive Lloyd eventually called a halt after deciding that there was prospect of enabling play to resume.

"It was really disappointing to see the final turn out this way," said South African captain Graeme Smith

"We were shaping well for the match after a slow start in the tournament."

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly had earlier chosen to bat first after winning the toss, but it was South Africa who seized the initiative.

Virender Sehwag was first to go when he was caught by Alan Dawson off the bowling of Shaun Pollock for eight.

Opening partner Gautam Gambhir failed to find any fluency and struggled for over three quarters of an hour to make 11 before edging Makhaya Ntini to Neil McKenzie at slip.

His dismissal left Ganguly and Mohammed Kaif to try and rebuild the innings, but they were not together long.

Kaif had reached five when he attempted to pull a short ball from Ntini but failed to make the desired contact and Jacques Rudolph accepted the chance.

Only four more overs of play was possible before the players were forced to return to the pavilion, with Ganguly 11 not out and Yuvraj Singh on two.

India also had to share a trophy last September when the final of the ICC Champions Trophy against hosts Sri Lanka was ruined by two days of rain in Colombo.

India: V Sehwag, G Gambhir, S Ganguly (capt), M Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, D Mongia, P Patel, A Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Mishra.

South Africa: H Gibbs, G Smith (capt), H Dippenaar, N McKenzie, J Rudolph, A Hall, M Boucher, S Pollock, P Adams, A Dawson, M Ntini.