MI Cape Town have become the first team to reach the finals of SA20 2025 season after beating Paarl Royals. Dewald Brevis played a key role for the Rashid Khan led side with the bat as they beat the Royals by 39 runs in the first qualifier game in Gqeberha on Tuesday. The young South African batter scored 44 not out from 30 balls with four huge sixes.
Mitchell Owen was bowling the final ball of the 19th over to Brevis and the young batter hit the ball towards the long-on region. One fan in the crowd took the catch and won the cash prize. Brevis was quick to acknowledge this and gave the lucky fan a thumbs up with a huge smile on his face.
David Miller, won the toss and asked MI Cape Town to bat first. Ryan Rickelton (44) and Rassie Van Der Dussen (40) began well to add 87 runs for the first wicket. George Linde swung his bat around to score 26 runs off 14 balls while Delano Potgieter scored 32 not out off 17 balls to help MICT score 199 from their 20 overs.
MI Cape Town bowlers tame Paarl Royals to enter SA20 finals
Needing 200 to win, the Royals began well as 21 runs were scored off the opening over. Kagiso Rabada then dismissed Lhuan Dre Pretorius for 15 off just six balls to break the opening stand. Trent Boult then got the wicket of dangerous Mitchell Owen caught by Reeza Hendricks for seven runs.
Rubin Hermann, Dayyaan Galiem, and Dunith Wellage fell at regular intervals to leave the hosts at 81/5 after ten overs. David Miller and Dinesh Karthik added 35 runs for the sixth wicket from four overs to bring the hosts back into the contest. Linde got the key wicket of Miller for 45 while Karthik fell to Rashid Khan for 31 as the hosts lost by 39 runs.
David Miller aired his disappointment after the game as he said, “We started on the back foot. Ricks and Rassie batted well. We did well after the powerplay. We lost it at the back end with wides and a couple of no-balls. Never nice to have a bowler coming off. One of those nights where the wheels came off at the back-end. Three games in a row have been losses but takes one game to make a turn around.”
Winning captain Rashid Khan said, “First couple of years we finished at the bottom. I think the way we played in the group stage was brilliant. Everyone has been taking on the pressure and trying to perform”. While MICT have reached the finals, Paarl will play the winners of the game between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings on Thursday. The winners of the second qualifier will play the finals against MICT at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.