MI Cape Town and DSG to launch SA20 season four with a bang

Defending champs MI Cape Town and Durban’s Super Giants are set to launch the fourth season of the SA20 with a bang in a Boxing Day clash at Newlands in Cape Town (start time 5:30pm).

It should be a classic encounter between two teams, who on paper, should be considered favourites for the 2026 event, along with Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Pretoria Capitals, although any of the teams will feel they can take it.

MICT impressively shook the monkey off their back last season, powering to the title in dominant fashion, losing just two out of 12 games over the campaign, which was a massive improvement after finishing bottom of the log over seasons one and two.

They have managed to keep hold of a key core group of players for season four, including Afghanistan allrounder and captain Rashid Khan, and Proteas pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada, and will hope that helps them retain their title.

Less pressure

“There was more pressure last year than this year, you know we finished 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,” said Khan at the pre-match presser.

“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 acclimatise.”

A blow for MICT was losing rising star Dewald Brevis, who had a superb campaign for them in season three, with him becoming a record buy for the Pretoria Capitals, going for an SA20 auction record R16.5 million.

However, they acted quickly to fill that void with the signing of West Indian big hitter Nicholas Pooran, and Khan believes he is a great signing for them.

“He (Pooran) is going to bring lots of energy to the game. We know how dangerous and how good a cricketer he is,” admitted Khan.

“He is the kind of 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.”

Markram touch

For DSG they will be counting on the Midas touch of Aiden Markram, who arrives at the Durban franchise having led the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to three consecutive SA20 finals, two of which they won, including against DSG in SA20 season two.

Markram will have a lot of expectations placed on him after he was part of a bidding war that ended with him being the second most expensive SA20 signing, at R14 million, and he will be expected to pay back that sum in kind.

DSG have been up and down in the SA20 so far, finishing fifth in season one, runners-up in season two, and bottom of the log last season, so will be looking for a big improvement this time round.

“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 two or three world class players with the likes of (Jos) Buttler, (Heinrich) Klaasen and others,” said Markram.

“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.”