MI Cape Town will face Durban Super Giants in the first match of SA20. This article provides details about the playing 11 of MI Cape Town vs Durban Super Giants for the first match of the tournament.
MI Cape Town Playing XI vs Durban Super Giants- SA20 2025-26, Match 1
Openers: Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks
MI Cape Town will be hoping for a winning start to the new SA20 season to defend their title, which they won in the last edition by defeating two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
MI Cape Town will face Durban Supergiants, who will be captained by Aiden Markram, and will also be eyeing a positive start to the tournament.
Rashid Khan-led MI Cape Town will rely on their openers to give the team a good start and put pressure on the opposition bowlers due to their aggressive playing style in the first six overs.
The opening pair of Ryan Rickelton and Reeza Hendricks will look to play their part both as partnerships and as individual batsmen, scoring runs to build confidence for the upcoming matches in the competition.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Rassie van der Dussen, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Dwayne Pretorius, Rashid Khan (captain).
The openers will be followed by the middle order which has a good mix of youth and experience with the presence of batsmen like Nicholas Pooran, Rassie van der Dussen, George Linde and Corbin Bosch.
One interesting thing about the MICT team is that it has a lot of all-rounders, who bring depth and balance to the team, especially in the T20 format of the game.
Talking about other all-rounders, apart from the two names mentioned above in George Lunde and Corbyn Bosch, the defending champions also have their title-winning captain Rashid Khan and Dwayne Pretorius.
Having said that, despite the depth in MICT’s batting order, the onus will be on the team’s top five batsmen to score the majority of runs for them and not rely on the lower middle order to get the job done in the upcoming match.
Bowlers: Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult
As far as MICT’s bowling attack is concerned, it is made up of names like Rashid Khan, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult, all of whom have plenty of experience playing T20 cricket and will put it to good use.
Along with him, the winners of the third edition of the league also have three all-rounders in the form of George Linde, Corbin Bosch and Dwayne Pretorius, taking the number of bowling options available to seven.
The availability of seven bowling options in this format of the game is a luxury for any captain, as it provides the much-needed flexibility to the team, and the captain can make changes to the bowling as per the situation of the game.