Rain spoils Yorkshire's chances in Champions League

Yorkshire, who were desperately looking for a win, were left disappointed as the rain gods played spoilsport in New Lands Cape Town.

Pollard and Johnson, who brought Mumbai Indians close to the 160-run mark, were set for a huge total before rain spoiled the party in the 18th over of the match.

The skies had gone overcast after the completion of the first match. The cool breeze started to blow along the ground and consequently, Yorkshire skipper Gale won the toss and elected to bowl first. Ryan Sidebottom was getting a hint of swing because of the gentle breeze and was not getting any lateral movement off the surface, which ultimately made the job easier for the openers. Smith and Tendulkar started the Mumbai Indians innings confidently as Smith took Sidebottom for 17 runs in his first over. Also, it was good to see Sachin Tendulkar getting into the act as he struck some glorious boundaries before he had a terrible mix-up with Smith and unfortunately he was run-out for 7.

Soon after, Smith took on the responsibility and handled the Yorkshire spinners really well. The Yorkshire spinners used the slowness of the wicket to very good effect, but they weren’t accurate with their length because of which Smith clobbered them all round the park. He, along with Rohit Sharma, steadied the Mumbai’s innings as they put together a quick fire 36-run partnership before Smith was caught at deep-square leg by Patterson for 37.

At that stage, Mumbai Indians were set for a huge total, but following his dismissal, they never upped the ante as they lost wickets cheaply trying to play shots on a sluggish track. Rafiq and Rashid used the surface to very good effect as they ran through the top-order batsmen of Mumbai Indians very quickly.

However, Pollard ensured that Mumbai Indians made a highly-regarded total at the end of 15 overs after getting off to a promising start. Rashid, though he picked couple of wickets, wasn’t economical and bowled the 18th over. Pollard struck a glorious six straight down over long-on and then took a couple of runs. Rashid was too full and his bowling was sub-par, which Pollard exploited to the maximum. But at 17.5 overs when Johnson defended towards covers for a single, the covers were called on and eventually play was called off due to heavy rain at Cape Town.

Yorkshire, who suffered a crushing defeat to Sydney, are likely to be out of this competition while Mumbai still have a chance because their margin of defeat to Lions was not high.

With the games being washed out, Group B is almost clear. On Saturday, if Lions managed to thrash Yorkshire, they along with Sixers would be through and the group would be filled. Expecting Sydney and Lions to go through in Group B.