Kagiso Rabada. Pic Credits: X

SA20 2025 : Reeza Hendricks, Rassie Van Der Dussen & Kagiso Rabada Register A Thumping Victory For MI Cape Town & Hand A Reality Check To Paarl Royals

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Kagiso Rabada, George Linde and skipper Rashid Khan bowled MI Cape Town to their second victory of the ongoing SA20, first at home on Monday, January 13.  Kagiso Rabada was adjudged the Player of the Match for his figures of 2/22 as he broke open the game against the Paarl Royals in the powerplay itself with a couple of wicket maidens. Kagiso Rabada became the first bowler in SA20’s short history to bowl back-to-back two maiden overs inside the powerplay.

Kagiso Rabada sent back both the Royals openers Joe Root and Lhuan-dre Pretorius to peg the Royals back, who had smashed 53 runs in the other four overs in the field restrictions. Kagiso Rabada also took his T20 tally of maiden overs to 10 with those couple of maiden overs, as he joined the likes of Mohammad Nabi, Josh Hazlewood and Piyush Chawla on the list. Kagiso Rabada went past the likes of Brett Lee, Yuzvendra Chahal (both with nine) and R Ashwin (eight) on the maidens list.

Pitch Report and Toss

Pitch Report : The Newlands ground in Cape Town is always considered to be one of the easy-batting grounds, more so in the SA20 league. With its true bounce and pace, the surface has historically favored batters, allowing them to score freely. Historically speaking, the surface has favored batsmen, having provided a good length and bounce. Most of the times, chasing teams have scored well and have crossed over 190+.

In this MI Cape Town versus Paarl Royals match, the first-bating team would have looked to post 180 or more to challenge the opposing side. With the conditions, captains who win the toss may prefer to bowl first. The ground is an excellent venue for chasing under lights with the pitch remaining consistent and favorable for stroke play.

Toss : MI Cape Town skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and opted to bat with Ryan Rickleton back in the playing XI. Paarl Royals skipper David Miller bowling first made no changes in the playing XI.

Reeza Hendricks half century alongside Rassie Van Der Dussen and late hitting by Delano Potgieter powers MICT to 172 in 20 overs

Opting to bat first, once again MICT had a poor opening stand as Ryan Rickelton fell early against the left-arm spin of Bjorn Fortuin. This brought the pair of Van der Dussen and Hendricks to the crease who have both found life pretty difficult at the start of this edition of the SA20. But the latter was given a loose delivery by Fortuin which he cut away for four to get his innings going while van der Dussen broke free against Mujeeb Ur Rahman with a six over midwicket.

MI Cape Town Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNCricinfo
MI Cape Town Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNCricinfo

The two batters were elegant in their stroke making and managed to pick the bones out of any slower balls bowled by the Royals. They were excellent running between the wickets, having also run a three on the quick outfield in Newlands. Just when they had laid a solid foundation for the hosts to kick on, Dayyaan Galiem bowled Van der Dussen.

Paarl Royals Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Paarl Royals Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Hendricks took over the scoring as he dispatched short deliveries by Mujeeb to the ropes and brought up his 50. However, things turned for the hosts as they lost three wickets in as many overs including the dangerous Hendricks.

MICT attacked young Kwena Maphaka in a 16-run 17th over which consisted off three wides as the bowler missed his radar attempting a number of slower deliveries. Delano Potgieter launched two slower deliveries by Lungi Ngidi into the stands but Galiem accounted for Dewald Brevis in the following over and Maphaka conceded only eight in the final over. It was also a shoddy fielding performance by the visitors who dropped three catches in the death overs.

Kagiso Rabada and George Linde starred with the ball as MICT restricts PR to 139 to win by 33 runs

In reply for the chase , the Royals got off to an absolute flier. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Joe Root, who had a 132-run stand two days ago, had the hosts worried early on. Pretorius launched Trent Boult into the stands with a flick of his pads for six before Root dished out some harsh treatment to Azmatullah Omarzai in a 16-run over. They followed it up with a couple of boundaries off Boult as the visitors raced to 38 for 0 in three overs.

But Root fell at a crucial juncture to Kagiso Rabada. Pretorius attacked Rashid Khan who erred on line for 12 runs as the visitors brought up the team 50 in five overs. Kagiso Rabada picked up the wicket of the dangerous Pretorius, who sliced it down to third-man. It was Kagiso Rabada’s second wicket-maiden in as many overs.

Paarl Royals Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Paarl Royals Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Kagiso Rabada got lucky with the Root dismissal as it was bowled down the leg and the England international ended up playing straight into the hands of a short fine-leg fielder. Pretorius was really taking the game to the opposition and his dismissal was a bit planned as Kagiso Rabada went wide and got him caught at deep backward point as the Royals lost both openers inside the powerplay, chasing a target of 173.

MI Cape Town Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNCricinfo
MI Cape Town Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNCricinfo

After Rabada’s burst, the Royals collapsed in the post-powerplay period losing five wickets in next seven overs to completely surrender to Rashid and Linde. Mujeeb ur Rahman and Kwena Maphaka’s cameos denied MICT getting a bonus point and helped the Royals not have their NRR get butchered.

The wickets of the openers broke the door open for the hosts. MICT brought on spin from both ends with George Linde and Rashid, on a pitch slightly holding up, with the former picking up Mitchell van Buuren and David Miller in his first two overs. Galiem was caught at long-on off Rashid while Sam Hain was bowled by him.

To make things worse, Dinesh Karthik was run-out with only 78 on the board as the Royals had completely lost their way. Maphaka (22) and Mujeeb (34) then registered a 42-run stand to deny a bonus point for MICT and see out proceedings.

Presentations and Road Ahead

Rashid Khan the winning MICT skipper said : We haven’t had many wins at home. I think it’s good to have a win. More importantly, the way the guys played was very well. Something which I love most about the team is hunger. So many senior players want to do well. So happy he (Reeza)played well. He carried on till the end. Great to see him doing well for the team. It was more about bowling few bad balls. I tried to put the ball in the right areas.

David Miller the losing PR skipper said : Very disappointed. The guys batting at the end did well. So did the openers. Only our second game. Lot of games to go. Quick turnaround. Ultimately comes down to execution. The guys know what to do. Not our best performance tonight. Was a par score. We definitely could have chased it down. was about hanging in there and making the right calls at the right time.

Kagiso Rabada Player of the Match for his outstanding bowling said : Joe Root is a fantastic player. But nicked off down leg. Every single game I play, I give my best. The first two games it has paid off. Hope it does for the third one as well. Trying to instill as much as positivity. When a youngster comes in, you want him to do his best. Take pressure of him. I try to do to the best of my ability.

MI Cape Town (MICT) breezed past the Paarl Royals on Monday (January 13) with a convincing 33-run victory in front of their blue brigade of supporters at Newlands. Reeza Hendricks (59) and Rassie van der Dussen (43) led the batting innings for the hosts in a 79-run stand for the second wicket to take them to 172 for 7. It proved to be too much for the Royals who could only muster 139 in their allotted overs, courtesy a sublime bowling performance from MICT.

MICT win this by 33 runs. A bit of the sheen was taken away by Mujeeb and Kwena Maphaka who played some cracking shots at the end to deny MICT a bonus point. Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada can be seen walking hand in shoulder and smiling. But Kagiso Rabada despite two wicket maiden overs and turning the game on its head was treated with disdain by Kwena Maphaka and Mujeeb.

That was the only fun part for Paarl who never really challenged MICT barring the opening part when Root and Pretorius showed signs of aggression. Kagiso Rabada got both the openers. Linde and Rashid took care of the middle-order and Paarl looked like losing by a huge margin. But then Mujeeb and Kwena Maphaka got together and provided some entertainment.

We are done with game 6. Was a bit of a mismatch for most part of it. But Mujeeb and Maphaka added some context to it by disallowing MICT the bonus point. T20 is a game of fine margins. And one would wish, specially MICT fans, that this one point doesn’t bug them later. MICT now has 2 wins out of 2 and PR now has 1 win and 1 defeat from 2 matches.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights


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