MI Cape Town left with plenty to ponder after missing SA20 semis

At the start of the Betway SA20 there were few who expected the Mumbai Indians Cape Town side to miss out on a spot in the semifinals. 

The face of the tournament, Dewald Brevis, started impressively in that opening match, they had what on paper appeared to be the strongest attack in the competition featuring the pace of Jofra Archer and Kagiso Rabada and guile of skipper Rashid Khan. 

Yet it's MI Cape Town who were the first team eliminated from play-off contention after their one-wicket defeat to the Pretoria Capitals at a rowdy SuperSport Park on Saturday night. Once again it was the batting department which let them down, with head coach Simon Katich admitting his side fell 15 to 20 runs short of a defendable target.

“We got ourselves to 100/3 after 11 overs, had a good chance to set the innings up and we didn’t,” said Katich. 

Rassie van der Dussen, moved up the order to open the innings with Brevis dropping into the middle order and Ryan Rickelton axed, scored 51 but only four other batters managed double figure scores, none of them more than 20. “We lacked game awareness in terms of stringing partnerships together and panicked a bit early with the bat.”

It’s been a disappointing tournament for a team so jam-packed with star names, which along with the Joburg Super Kings was the most expensive franchise among the six purchased by IPL owners last year. 

“With the bat, the top order, which has the best chance to do so, haven’t scored enough 70-plus scores. We only got the one from Brevis in the first game. There’s certainly talent there, of that there is no doubt, we’ve just not applied ourselves,” said Katich. 

“As a bowling group, again, you can’t question the skill, we just haven’t hunted as a pack.” 

The Capitals meanwhile secured their semifinal spot with two matches left, with their brand of aggressive cricket once more to the fore despite missing the impressive Will Jacks who’s headed off on England duty, Adil Rashid who was rested and the injury to Wayne Parnell which meant he couldn’t bowl his full quota of overs. 

Parnell nursing what appeared to be a groin injury, could barely run and it needed the Irish rookie Josh Little, to miscue a pull shot that flew over the cover region off the last ball, to secure the win for the Capitals. 

“I was not expecting to be in a position like that at the end, on my debut,” said Little, who’d also claimed a wicket earlier in the match. 

The win earned the Capitals top spot on the log, but it bizarrely means they won’t play their semifinal at their homeground. The top team plays the first semi on Wednesday, with that match being hosted at the Wanderers. The second semifinal will be played on Thursday at SuperSport Park, between the second and third place finishers.  

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