Having missed out on the Playoffs in both previous seasons of the Betway SA20, skipper Rashid Khan’s MI Cape Town have taken the third season by storm. They have topped the six-team event with seven wins out of 10 matches with 35 points in the bag, seven more than second-placed Paarl Royals. Such has been their form that despite making as many as six changes to the line-up in their inconsequential last league match against Pretoria Capitals on Sunday, they still ended up scoring a 200-plus total (201-5) to emerge winners by a whopping 95 runs.

Skipper Rashid had no hesitation in admitting that his team is extremely confident as they enter the Playoffs, facing Paarl Royals in Tuesday’s Qualifier 1 at St George’s Park here. “In the last two seasons, we played good cricket, but somehow didn’t finish [matches] well. This year we have done that [finished games]. Everyone is in form and contributing. We have been playing some amazing cricket in the last four-five games so the energy is positive and confidence is high,” Rashid, who has led Afghanistan in 29 T20Is including a first-ever ICC T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year, said at the match-even press conference here on Monday.