MI Cape Town fans across the globe would be overjoyed with the triumph after winning the match by a whooping margin of 76 runs. The side led by Rashid Khan ticked all the 3 boxes in the finale as well & were quite invincible against Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Trent Boult proved his mettle & his impeccable bowling set the tone for MI Cape Town.
Pitch Report & Playing 11
Pitch report: “It is hot. 82m straight hit, 60m and 59m side hits”, reckons Pommie Mbangwa. “I was just watching the games on TV and it appeared to be dry here, but I am pretty impressed today, nice grass cover and there is a sheen to it. From the outside it looks wonderful,” opines Shaun Pollock. “Not much moisture but there is grass so it might do something for the seamers,” says ABdV.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape (Playing XI): Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Jordan Hermann, Aiden Markram(c), Tom Abell, Tristan Stubbs(w), Marco Jansen, Craig Overton, Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson, Andile Simelane
Connor Esterhuizen & Dewald Brevis’ powerful cameos take MI Cape Town to a formidable 181-8
Trent Boult & Kagiso Rabada ravage Sunrisers Eastern Cape batting unit & MI CT win maiden SA20 title
Sunrisers Eastern Cape needed a sturdy powerplay like MI CT where they had scored 52 runs. Kagiso Rabada & Trent Boult had another ideas, the duo were bowling immaculate lines & lengths and made sure that they make SEC openers Tony de Zorzi & David Bedingham work hard for every run. The pressure of required run rate was mounting on defending champions.
SEC not only lost 2 wickets in the powerplay overs for 34 runs but the player in form Jordan Hermann was dismissed for 1 run by Trent Boult in 3rd over. Jordan Hermann in Qualifier 2, had hit a match winning knock of 69 runs in 48 balls against Paarl Royals. All of a sudden, the surface was turning sharply.
Tom Abell & Tony de Zorzi brought the run chase back on track. Tom Abell was timing the ball mellifluously & was looking in the groove. At the end of 8 overs SEC’s score was 54-2 & required another 128 runs to win from 12 overs which was a steep mission for the side.
Rashid Khan & George Linde were bowling in tandem and didn’t panic even after a flurry of boundaries. It was just a matter of time before SEC’s batters had a tragic collapse. SEC were 65-2 in 9.3 overs, they lost 5 wickets for 32 runs as the batters were quite clueless against the spin duo.
It was quite astounding to see how Tristan Stubbs & Marco Jansen played out spinners even when the required run rate was more than 12 runs per over. In last 6 overs, SEC required 94 runs to win and Stubbs & Jansen decided to take on Boult but the speedster duped Stubbs by bowling a slower delivery and a regulation catch was taken by Rashid Khan at mid off.
Trent Boult had unbelievable final where he took 2 wickets and gave away only 9 runs in his 4 overs spell which is mind boggling. Kagiso Rabada wrapped up the game with 4 wickets to his name in 3.4 overs & gave away 25 runs. MI Cape Town won the match by a gigantic margin of 76 runs and shattered SEC’s dream of winning 3 back to back titles.
MI Cape Town in previous last 2 editions, didn’t even qualify for the play-offs. Skipper Rashid Khan & head coach Robin Peterson have brought the glory to MI Cape Town. There was massive support in crowd for MI Cape Town, it has been a collective effort from MI Cape Town as every another player has step up for the challenge and delivered as they were the table toppers in this edition.
Presentations & Quotes of captains, player of the match
Trent Boult is the Player of the Match: First of all the boys put up a great performance. We scratched to 180 and very satisfying to get the job done. Beautiful place to play. The tournament is well followed. It was nice to get on a wicket that had help for the bowlers. Players stood up at the right points this season.
Rashid Khan: It feels amazing. Unbelievable (to win) after two years at the bottom of the team. This time topping the table and finishing like this is amazing. It was a team effort. (What was said when he was dismissed) Something not too good to be told here. It pumped me up as well. That was needed. With that chat in the middle my energy was different and happy to have won the game.
Robin Peterson (*Head coach MI Cape Town): The guys enjoyed each other’s company. The guys have friendships that will last long. Was well led by Rashid. Pretty easy to lead them. Everybody put in their best. The camaraderie. They put their energies into this.
Aiden Markram: I thought we tried hard and we knew we were going to be under the pump,” he says. “Still thought the bowlers responded well and we thought it was chaseble. We would have liked to get ahead in the powerplay but they had world-class bowlers swinging it. MICT have been brilliant this season and they’re deserved winners. Big congrats to them from all our boys. We scrapped and fought hard. We will take a lot of positives from this season.”
Deward Brevis | Rising Star of the season: There are a few things I have changed. I am all for hard work. I love doing whatever I can for the team.
Marco Jansen | Player of the Season along with bowler of season with 19 wickets : We adapted well as bowlers. We always found a way to get the team over the line. I just tried to learn from the top order batters. They help me a lot. Aiden helps me in the nets. I try to put the team in the winning positions. Sometimes I am on the lucky side to put the team on the winning side and it’s definitely needed in this format.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius – Batter of the season: I have the backing of the coaches (To bat aggressively). I learnt quite a bit from Rooty and a few of the big players. It will stay with me for a very long time