Johannesburg [South Africa], February 9 : MI Cape Town spearhead Kagiso Rabada delivered an inspired performance with the ball to lead his team to their maiden SA20 title at a sold-out Wanderers on Saturday evening.
Rabada's performance was fitting of the grand occasion with the fast bowler claiming 4/25 to dismiss the Sunrisers Eastern Cape for just 105 in response to MI Cape Town's 181/8 - the second-highest score in a SA20 Final, as per a press release from SA20.
Rabada also claimed a brilliant diving catch at point to send Sunrisers skipper Aiden Markram back to the dugout at a critical juncture to swing the game into MI Cape Town's favour.
The fast bowler was ably supported by the MI Cape Town spin twins George Linde (2/20) and Rashid Khan (1/19).
Having won the toss and elected to bat, MI Cape Town announced their intent from the outset with Ryan Rickelton racing to 33 off 15 balls (one four and four sixes) to lift his team to 51 within the first five overs.
Rickelton fell soon after though, deceived by a slower ball from Craig Overton, and was followed shortly thereafter by Reeza Hendricks (0 off 2 balls) as MI Cape Town closed out the Powerplay on 52/2 - the highest total conceded by Sunrisers Eastern Cape at the six-over mark across the competition.
Rickelton also passed Durban's Super Giants Heinrich Klaasen as the leading run-scorer in Betway SA20 history with 1012 runs across the three competitions.
Sunrisers kept chipping away with the further wicket of Rassie van der Dussen (23 off 25 balls), who fell just four runs shy of passing the competition's leading run-scorer Lhuan-dre Pretorius.
MI Cape Town regained their composure through a couple of middle-order partnerships with the 50 runs off just 30 balls between Dewald Brevis (38 off 18 balls, with two fours and four sixes) and Connor Esterhuizen (39 off 26 balls, with two fours and two sixes) proving pivotal in getting Robin Peterson's team up to a winning total.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape needed a strong start to give them a chance, but their struggles with the bat in the Powerplay continued with David Bedingham and Jordan Hermann both back in the dugout with only eight runs on the board.
Abell (30 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and a six) and Tony de Zorzi (26 in 23 balls, with three fours and a six) battled hard to rebuild the innings with a 57-run partnership for the third wicket.
But they fell within three runs of each other to Linde and Rashid respectively to leave Sunrisers precariously placed on 68/4.
And when Markram (6) followed shortly afterwards, Sunrisers' reign as two-time SA20 champions was drawing to a close with Rabada providing the coup de grace for MI Cape Town.