Dropped from South Africa's T20 World Cup squad, MI batter smashes 2nd ton in 6 innings & copies KL Rahul's Kantara celebration

Rickelton was dropped from South Africa's T20 World Cup 2026 squad. With the return of Quinton de Kock, Rickelton couldn't find a place in the side. Also, Tony de Zorzi was picked ahead of him who has experience of just two T20Is in the recent series against India.

ALSO READ: Big blow to India as star player ruled out of ODI series against New Zealand due to injury

Rickelton had a premonition that he may not be picked in Proteas' squad for the mega event. He is the leading run-scorer in this edition of SA20. Also, he became the first batter to score two centuries in the league.

ALSO READ: BCB chief drops massive update on T20 World Cup standoff with ICC

Rickelton, Rassie torment Super Kings bowlers

In their away match, MI Cape Town skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and opted to bat first. Rickelton and Rassie van der Dussen used the powerplay overs well. They did not let spinners Prenelan Subrayen and Akeal Hosein settle. After powerplay overs, they were 67 for no loss. In the ninth over, Van Der Dussen reached his fifty from just 26 balls. In the next over, Rickelton got to his half-century from 28 deliveries. At the halfway stage, they were 128 for no loss.

The partnership was broken by Daniel Worrall. Van der Dussen scored 65 runs from 32 balls, including four fours and six sixes. Rickelton continued to find boundaries. Worrall struck again, dismissing Nicholas Pooran for a 13-ball 14. In the 16th over, Jason Smith lost his wicket to Donovan Ferreira for a single-digit score. In the 18th over, Rickelton went berserk, hitting Nandre Burger for two sixes and as many fours. In the penultimate over, he hit Wiaan Mulder for a couple of sixes. The opener remained unbeaten for 113 off 60 balls. His knock was studded with nine sixes and eight fours. On the other end, Karim Janat contributed with an 11-ball 20 cameo. MI Cape Town posted a total of 234/3 on the board.

Super Kings’ chase derailed early

In the run chase, Super Kings lost three wickets in the powerplay overs. After a slow start, James Vince and Dian Forrester scored half-centuries but they weren't enough to revive the run chase. Vince departed for a 43-ball 77. Forrester remained unbeaten for a 42-ball 80 as Super Kings managed to post 198/5, losing the match by 36 runs at their homeground. For MI, George Linde and Kagiso Rabada claimed two wickets each.

Rickelton on why he copied KL Rahul’s ‘Kantara’ celebration

Rickelton was named ‘Player of the match’ for his second century in six innings. He opened up about his KL Rahul-like Kantara celebration and how it was an emotional outburst for him.

“I've had a bit of thoughts. I was actually thinking about, I don't know, live celebrations recently. I saw KL Rahul do it in the IPL. Probably when he was in between teams at the moment, just letting everyone know that he's there. So I don't know why that was at the top of my mind, but it just came out the way it did. I suppose maybe I thought about it going into the game or maybe these last couple of weeks. So it probably was an emotional outburst at the time. But yeah, it was just the one at the front of my mind. I remember his celebration quite vividly,” he said in the post-match presentation.

 

 

MI Cape Town still alive in playoffs race

This was MI's second win from seven games. The win against Super Kings kept their playoffs chances alive. They have three more games to go and have a chance to finish in top four and advance to the playoffs.