MI Cape Town will take on the Paarl Royals in the tournament opener of the inaugural season of Cricket South Africa’s new franchise-based T20 league, the SA20, at the Newlands in Cape Town tomorrow.
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The MI Cape Town, led by leg-spinner maestro Rashid Khan certainly look like the team to beat in the tournament. Apart from the all round skills of Rashid, the squad also boasts of some of the big T20 stars in Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Jofra Archer, Liam Livingstone, and Dewald Brevis to name a few.
On the other hand, the Paarl Royals, led by David Miller also consists of some marquee talents in Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi et al.
Akin most T20 leagues around the world, only a maximum of four overseas players will be allowed in the playing XI of teams during a match in the SA20 as well.
Moreover, for the very first time in a T20 league, the team captains will have the advantage of naming their playing XI for the day post the conduction of the Toss, but will have to nominate 13 players before the same.
Newlands Cape Town pitch report
The last T20I that the Newlands Cricket Ground hosted was back in December 2020, and the contest turned out to be a high-scoring affair.
Across the 21 men’s T20I matches played at this venue, the average score stands at 159.8 runs, which makes the pitch here conducive enough for the batters.
Having said that, the pitch here also has a reputation of providing significant pace and bounce to the fast bowlers, and the likes of Archer, Rabada, Ngidi etc. would certainly be licking their lips at the sight of the pitch tomorrow especially with the new ball in hand.
Overall, one should likely expect an even contest with the bat and ball at the Newlands pitch come tomorrow.
