MI Cape Town captain Rashid Khan: ‘SA20 will be massive in future’

MI Cape Town captain and Afghanistan international Rashid Khan says the world’s latest Twenty20 competition, the SA20, will become “massive” and “big” in years to come.

The competition, which concludes this week with two semi-finals and the final on Saturday following 33 games in six venues, has been hailed a major success in many quarters.

‘Big achievement’

Khan said he expected big things from the competition in future.

“This was just the first year and what a big achievement for Cricket South Africa,” said the highly-rated all-rounder.

“It’s going to be massive in the coming years. Lots of young talent will come through, and it’ going to inspire many youngsters.

“Cricket in South Africa will be changed with all the talent, and this competition will help.
“It (the SA20) will compete with lots of (other international Twenty20) competitions. This league is going to go big and big.”

‘Batting not good enough’

Khan’s team MI Cape Town were among the favourites to win the inaugural S20 title before the competition got underway, but the Simon Katich-coached side will end their campaign in sixth and last place after registering just three wins from their 10 matches.

The squad includes players such as Khan, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Dewald Brevis, Rassie van der Dussen, Ryan Rickelton, Jofra Archer and George Linde.

“We had a tough year. But you can’t change your cricket, you can’t change your skills, you’ve got to keep believing in yourself, keep trying your best, for the team,” said Khan.

“We wanted to go out and express ourselves, make it count, but it didn’t work (for us). The season didn’t go our way, but there are lots of things we learned, and we’ll take some positives from it, and come back next year stronger and smarter.”

Khan said his team’s batting just wasn’t good enough. “We only had one 70 in the batting (young Dewald Brevis in the opening game), but I thought the bowlers did a good job,” he said, adding the senior players in the squad should have stepped up more regularly.

“We were clear with the youngsters from the beginning, that they should go out and express themselves,” said Khan.

“We never put pressure on anyone … we told players to stick to their talents, to enjoy their skills; there were no big expectations. The responsibility was on the seniors; the youngsters had the freedom to play.

“It’s never easy coming into a new competition. This is a new franchise and it will take a couple years for everyone to get used to it … and they’ll score runs in time.”

Rassie van der Dussen was top run-scorer for MICT, with 243 runs and average 30.37 and strike-rate 122 and top score 51. Brevis was next-best with a best score of 70 no, and 235 runs at average 26.11 and strike-rate 118.