It rained – sixes off the bat and from the heavens – at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Thursday evening. After Yorkshire had put them into bat, the Mumbai Indians cruised to 156 – thanks to cameos from several of their batsmen – before the skies opened up and brought the proceedings to an abrupt end. Play was halted after 17.5 overs had been bowled in the Mumbai Indians innings; no further play was possible thereafter and the match had to end as a ‘No Result’ with both teams taking home two points from the tie.

Dwayne Smith got his team off to just the kind of started they needed this evening; he hit the off-spinner Joe Root for sixes off the second and third deliveries of the innings. His opening partner Sachin Tendulkar then creamed an exquisite extra cover drive in the following over to kindle hopes of a special performance. However, a misunderstanding while running cut Tendulkar’s innings short in the third over.

Rohit Sharma and Smith then stabilized the innings over the next four overs; the pair did not hit a single boundary in that period, yet kept on scoring at a run-a-ball. Just after the field restrictions had been relaxed, Root was introduced into the attack yet again. And Smith did not let go of the opportunity; he got stuck into the Yorkshire off-spinner yet again and hit him for consecutive sixes. He perished the following delivery when he pulled a full toss on leg stump straight to the man at square-leg. When the Barbados all-rounder was dismissed for 37 (off 26 balls), the Mumbai Indians were sitting pretty at 59 for 2 after eight overs. 

Rohit Sharma (25) and Dinesh Karthik (12) perished soon after and the Mumbai Indians were reduced to 86 for 4. Ambati Rayudu struck a couple of boundaries and Harbhajan Singh struck a couple of towering sixes before being caught at cover; Rayudu made 15 while his skipper made 12 from five deliveries.

Kieron Pollard, who remained unbeaten on 37 (off 20 balls), hit three boundaries and two sixes; he had Mitchell Johnson giving him company when the rains set in.

Yorkshire’s spinners were the wicket-takers on the day; leg-spinner Adil Rashid, off-spinner Azeem Rafiq and Joe Root picked up wickets. While Rashid returned with figures of two for 42 (with one delivery remaining to be bowled in his final over), Rafiq accounted for two MI wickets. Root, who opened the bowling, conceded 26 runs in his two overs, but picked up the wicket of the dangerous Smith.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 156 for 6 in 17.5 overs (Dwayne Smith 37, Kieron Pollard 37*, Azeem Rafiq 2-36, Adil Rashid 2-42)