Under the leadership of their new management team, Sourav Ganguly (Head Coach), former Proteas captain Shaun Pollock (Assistant Coach) and Bongani Ndaba as Fielding Coach, the Pretoria Capitals reached the play-off rounds of the SA20 cricket tournament again this year, after two unsuccessful seasons in 2024 and 2025.

The team achieved their fifth victory in the current SA20 season on Saturday night at the Wanderers in Johannesburg when they defeated the Joburg Super Kings by 21 runs.

In doing so, Keshav Maharaj and his teammates made sure they would be involved in the play-offs, which will start on Wednesday 21 January.

Although they were already certain of a place in the play-off rounds on Saturday, they had to wait until Monday evening to know whether they would finish second or third on the log, which would have a significant impact on their possible route to the final.

By Sunday evening, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape had taken first place on the log after their seven-wicket victory in a thrilling battle in Gqeberha against the defending champions, MI Cape Town.

With that, the team from Cape Town was officially dethroned as champion, as their league matches were completed and they were certain to finish last on the log.

This detail of the play-off round fixtures then depended on the outcome of the last league fixture in the tournament, which was played in Paarl on Monday between the home team, the Paarl Royals, and the Joburg Super Kings.

The Pretoria team’s neighbours from across the Jukskei River finally did them a big favour on Monday night by beating the Paarl Royals by 44 runs. With their backs against the wall in a game they had to win, the Joburg Super Kings made history when they won their first ever match in Paarl in the four-year existence of the tournament.

The Johannesburg team’s victory was made possible by a brilliant unbeaten innings of 54 runs off 27 balls by former Affie pupil, Leus du Plooy, which was followed up during the Paarl Royals’ innings by excellent bowling from, Prenelan Subrayen (3/14), as well as Nandré Burger (2/29) and the evergreen 46-year-old veteran, Imran Tahir (2/17).

The Pretoria Capitals therefore finished second on the final log and their route to a possible final on 25 January therefore begins on Wednesday, when they will face the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the tournament’s first play-off fixture, known as the “Qualifier 1” match. This match will be decided in Durban.

The winner of that match qualifies directly for the final on Sunday 25 January in Cape Town. The loser would then have to play in a “Qualifier 2” play-off match on Friday 23 January in Johannesburg against the winner of the so-called “Eliminator” game, which will be a rematch between the Paarl Royals (third on the log) and the Joburg Super Kings (fourth on the log) on Thursday 22 January at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Whichever scenario plays out, it will still mean that the Pretoria Capitals’ season is an improvement on that of the previous two years. The team, based at SuperSport Park in Centurion, finished fifth on the log in both the 2024 and 2025 competitions and therefore did not qualify for the play-off phase.

In the very first edition of this tournament in 2023, the Pretoria Capitals finished at the top of the log, but unfortunately lost to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final in Johannesburg by four wickets.

Off to Durban for Qualifier 1 💪🏼

Thank you, Centurion. Thank you, Pitori. We’ll carry your support with us and make you proud.#CapitalsRebuild #PretoriaLetsRoar #BetwaySA20 pic.twitter.com/iVrB96nK7z

— Pretoria Capitals (@PretoriaCapsSA) January 19, 2026

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