That's it from the final game of 2025! Pretoria Capitals will be celebrating hard their bonus point win over a strong MI Cape Town side in match number 8! We at CREX wish each and everyone a very happy, prosperous and pleasant new year! Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of scorer Yogesh Kumar. Stay tuned for more action from all over the world in 2026 as well!
Sherfane Rutherford (Player of the Match): "It's a beautiful place and great tournament to be. It's important for me to do the basics, I can always make up in the end. It depends on the overs. Tonight 5 overs were remaining when I came in so I decided to give myself 6-7 balls so we could go big in the last 3 overs and it came off well. The conversation was to keep reacting. Wherever the ball is it will travel.
When I came to this tournament I never thought of bowling. The coach saw something that I didn't see.
[on the dropped catches] It was tough when the ball was high, it kept on swirling."
Player of the Match: Sherfane Rutherford
Keshav Maharaj (Pretoria Capitals Captain): "We started off really well. We always knew with the platform that Wihan and Shai gave us in the middle that we can go big with the kind of batting we had lower down the order.
We had experience in Shai Hope, he marshalled and Wihan as well put the bad balls away. When Shai got out I asked him the winning score and he said something around 180. It was really nice after 2 disappointing losses where we felt we played half the game and lost the other half. It was a truly clinical performance."
Rashid Khan (MI Cape Town Captain): "We started well as a bowling attack but we gave up too many runs in the last 3 overs. 220 and 180-90 is a big difference. The way we started with the bat, we were there but failed to close out the game.
On this ground sometimes you try to attack and get back to defensive mode again. T20 changes in 5-10 minutes. Holding back your more experienced bowlers helps. It was about making sure to hit the right areas, we didn't put the new batters under pressure. You need just 3-4 balls to settle on this surface. Shai Hope and the left hander gave the platform for their lower order.
We did well last year as well to chase totals and put runs on the board as well. It's more about how we are coming as a team and how disciplined we are. We were missing that as a bowling unit. You executing your plans correctly is something we are missing."
12:24 AM IST, 8:54 PM Local Time: Pretoria Capitals will celebrate their new year with a bonus point win over MI Cape Town as they defend 220 and win the game by 85 runs!
Exceptional allround performance from Sherfane Rutherford who hit an unbeaten 47 in 15 deliveries including six sixes then picked up his career best T20 figures of 4/24 to rattle the MICT middle order.
Capitals won the toss and decided to bat first. Shai Hope (45) and Wihan Lubbe (60) did a decent job in the middle overs but it was the partnership between Rutherford and Dewald Brevis (36* off 13) that helped them add 220/5 in 20 overs.
MICT started off in attacking manner as the opening pair of Rassie van der Dussen (28 off 20) and Ryan Rickelton (33) added 60 for the first wicket in 5.2 overs. Reeza Hendricks had 18 to score in 13 balls with Nicholas Pooran smoking 4 sixes in the six deliveries he faced to score 25 but quick wickets from Keshav Maharaj and Rutherford brought the Capitals back in the game.
Rutherford dismissed Hendricks, George Linde and Dwaine Pretorius whereas Maharaj made a strong comeback dismissing Pooran, Jason Smith and captain Rashid Khan. Rutherford then dismissed Kagiso Rabada in the 14th over to claim his 4th wicket and it was Tymal Mills who dismissed Trent Boult in the 15th over to take the Capitals home.
Stay tuned as we return with the post match presentation.