BY DEAN CLOETE
KAGISO Rabada is vol smiles after his MI Cape Town made it to the final of the SA20 by beating neighbours Paarl Royals in the Qualifier on Tuesday night.
The Kaapenaars, who finished the group stage at the top of the pile, beat the Royals by 39 runs in Gqeberha after scoring 199/4 (Ryan Rickelton 44, Dewald Brevis 44 not out and Rassie van der Dussen 40) before restricting their opponents to 160 (David Miller 45; Kagiso Rabada 2/18, Rashid Khan 2/33 and Corbin Bosch 2/34).
After finishing dead last in the first two seasons of the competition, Rabada says of the win: “It was a great start by Ryan and Reeza [Hendricks] and then the middle order did well. “Under pressure with the ball we responded well and we’ve been doing that the whole tournament, so hopefully we will do that in the final also.”
Of what changed in the team, Rabada says: “We’ve always had the players, but now we got together and the senior group had a lot to do with pulling everyone together.
“There is a familiarity between the players. As you can see the South African players have been backing each other.
“Local players are stepping up and everyone on the bench is looking to make an impact.
“The hunger is there and has always been there, [but] we got together more as a team to put in those crucial performances at crucial times and that’s what’s getting us over the line.”
Of the upcoming final on Saturday against either Paarl Royals or the winner of Wednesday’s Eliminator between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings, who will play in the final Qualifier, Rabada says: “Take it one step at a time and stay in the moment. Do the same things we’ve been doing throughout the tournament.”