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In their rain-shortened tournament opener on Thursday, January 11, the Durban Super Giants defeated MI Cape Town by 11 runs thanks to Heinrich Klaasen’s incredible 85-run attack. After being put to bat first, MI amassed a massive 207/5 thanks to a brilliant innings-ending stand from Kieron Pollard and an opening stand of 87 from Ryan Rickelton. But Klaasen’s brilliant knock saved DSG from a 52/3 deficit before rain forced an early stop to the match, leaving the hosts ahead on DLS par.
With six sixes and five boundaries in 51 balls, Rickelton took control of the powerplay from the start. Rassie van der Dussen contributed just 24 runs to the 82-run partnership made by the Cape Town openers before he left in the eighth over.
After that, Rickelton continued to lose partners on a regular basis, but he managed to keep Cape Town going at nearly 10 an over until Keemo Paul bowled him just 13 short of a well-deserved century. In the sixteenth over, MICT was 150/4 at the moment. In his brief visit, Liam Livingstone delighted the crowd by blasting three sixes into the stands to contribute 25 in 20, and captain Pollard, in just 14 deliveries, struck a blistering 31* to lead his side to a 200+ score with his late cameo.
With both of their new-ball bowlers striking inside powerplay, Cape Town’s hopes were further boosted as Durban was reduced to 12/2 in just the first ten balls of their chase. After the hosts had just lost Paul at the start of the seventh over, Klaasen entered the field and quickly put up a fast 47 runs in four overs with the unbeaten opener Matthew Breetzke (39 off 24).
Similarly, Dwaine Pretorius made just five runs in the 34-run partnership for the sixth wicket, putting Durban well within striking distance of the target. Nicholas Pooran added another 41 in just 3.2 overs. The top middle-order batsman turned around a poor start to get a fifty off 25 balls, then in the last 10 deliveries he faced, he added 35 more runs. When Klaasen fell to Rabada shortly before the start of the death overs, the team had reached 174/6 thanks to his 35-ball assault, which featured eight sixes and four more boundaries. But four balls after it started to rain, Durban was proclaimed the winners after they had an 11-run lead.