Well, it was far from ideal. In a game that was shaping up to go right down to the wire, MI New York, unfortunately, had to end up on the wrong side of nature’s fury. Our batters fought to get us up to a competitive total on a tricky pitch, but it was just one bad over with the ball just before the heavens opened up that cost us the game. Let’s sum it up for you.. 

Pooran does a Pooran, again

After Monank Patel and Shayan Jahangir fell quickly in the powerplay, our Nicky P resumed from where he left last night, which was a resumption from where he left in last year’s final. Against the run of play, he injected some much-needed momentum into the MINY innings with a 30-ball 44 as batters fell around him. 

The Rashid-Nortje death cameo 

Just as it felt that we might end up with a sub-par total, having being reduced to 111/7 in 16.5 overs, Rashid Khan took over. With three sixes and two fours in a 15-ball knock of 31, along with Anrich Nortje’s nine-ball 14, MI new York suddenly found themselves going past the 150-run mark, with a fighting total in their kitty.

Smith (and the rain) goes berserk

Travis Head struggled at the crease, Andries Gous couldn’t get going either. Steven Smith too took a couple of overs to get his eye in. But it was the final over of the powerplay that was the difference. He smashed Nortje for two fours and two sixes to collect 22 off the over, and before we could recover, play was stopped owing to lightning, before the rain came down, and refused to stop. What it meant was that Washington Freedom were five-runs ahead on the DLS par score, and with play not resuming, sadly, it was it. 

But let’s not be too disheartened. We have a six-day break now before our next game, which is the big one against the Texas Super Kings on Friday (July 12), and in true MINY style, trust us to bounce back hard!