MI Cape Town, the defending champions, were unbeaten across five matches at home in SA20 Season 3, transforming Newlands into a fortress and their campaign into a title-winning success. This time around, MI captain Rashid Khan is hoping to extend his team’s proud Newlands record in their opening Season 4 game against Durban’s Super Giants (DSG) in Johannesburg on Friday.
The home side is packed with a host of superstars such as Proteas Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Corbin Bosch along with internationals Rashid Khan, Trent Boult and new arrival Nicholas Pooran. The star-studded cast is ready to entertain the MI Cape Town faithful.
Rashid Khan feels his team are ready to express themselves after claiming the title last season. He feels they are not under as much pressure as they were last year. “There was more pressure last year than this year, you know we came at the bottom twice in a row and to come up from that and win the trophy was a big thing for us as a team,” the MI Cape Town captain said.
“I think what we did right was we played collectively as a team, and we took the responsibility at certain points of the game. Every player is well experienced, and they will adjust themselves with the condition and the position of the team quite quickly. Everyone is so professional, they have played so much cricket around the world, and I think it won’t be that difficult for them to acclimatize,” the star Afghanistan spinner said.
Cape Town eager to start new season with a bang
MI Cape Town are eager to start the new campaign on a similar footing with Rashid Khan expecting Pooran to hit the ground running for his new team. “He (Pooran) is going to bring lots of energy to the game,” he said. “We know how dangerous and how good a cricketer he is. He is a kind of like a person who comes in smashing lots of sixes you will see. He’s a guy full of energy and entertainment and I am sure he is going to love his time here,” the skipper added.
On the other hand, Durban’s Super Giants have revamped their squad and are quite capable of being the Grinch of Christmas past by spoiling MI Cape Town’s homecoming.
New captain Aiden Markram, who has won the competition twice previously with Sunrisers Eastern Cape, brings a wealth of experience and a winning mentality to Lance Klusener’s team. The Super Giants have an equal array of sparkling dust sprinkled through their star-studded squad with Markram joined by England’s former T20 World Cup-winning captain Jos Buttler.
The batting department boasts further experience in New Zealand legend Kane Williamson and former Proteas white-ball basher Heinrich Klaasen.
West Indian Sunil Narine is unfortunately not available as yet, but the Super Giants have recruited Proteas Test hero Simon Harmer to further bolster a spinning contingent that already boasts Afghanistan mystery bowler Noor Ahmad.
Markram is quite pleased with the way things are shaping up for the team. “There is a really nice balance in the set-up, and we have a nice group of guys. We have some really good all-rounders, mixed with 2-3 world class players with the likes of Buttler, Klaasen and co,” the South African batter said.
“I think a lot of it comes down to finding our strength as a team and our identity and what gives us the best chance to play good cricket and win games of cricket, so it’s obviously a new and exciting challenge for us in a competition with a lot of new faces.”
