Paarl Royals became the first team in franchise T20 cricket history to bowl all 20 overs of spin in a match as they defended a modest score of 140 runs in style against the Pretoria Capitals on Saturday, January 25 to make it through to the playoffs in the ongoing SA20. The Royals have been the trendsetters not just in choosing horses for courses in terms of their combination but also in their tactics as the likes of Joe Root, Dunith Wellalage, Bjorn Fortuin, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Nqaba Peter combined to put a monumental choke on the Capitals.
In the past, there have been only two instances of a team bowling 20 overs of spin in an innings during Lankan Cricket Club and Burgher Recreation Club in Colombo in 2019 and between Malaysia and Bangladesh in Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. It was a slow pitch and the Royals realised that. They were aware of how the wicket might play and even though they would have liked to get to 150-160, Joe Root's unbeaten 56-ball 78 was crucial in the Royals putting a respectable total.
Like skipper David Miller mentioned, they had Dayyan Galiem if they needed some overs of pace but eventually, they weren't required to. Fortuin and Wellalage had the Capitals three down in the powerplay itself before the visitors stormed back into the contest with a marathon partnership.
Will Jacks and Kyle Verreynne took their own sweet time but that 77-run partnership for the fourth wicket kept the Capitals in hunt to make a late dash in the last few overs towards the target. Mujeeb broke the partnership by dismissing Verreynne. Jacks completed his half-century and still, the Capitals needed 41 runs off 20 balls to win the game.
However, Root and Mujeeb were just too good in the end as the Capitals bottled what would and should have been a rather comfortable chase. This was the Capitals' fourth defeat of the tournament and now require to win all three of their remaining games to get through to the playoffs. The Royals will be aiming to finish in the top two, to get two opportunities to make it to the final.