MI Cape Town name Rashid Khan their captain for SA20 League

Rashid Khan will lead the Mumbai Indians-owned MI Cape Town franchise in the inaugural season of the SA20 League. The team made the big announcement on Instagram earlier on Friday.

After dominating the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians' team owners decided to expand their reach to the T20 leagues of the UAE and South Africa. They bought a franchise in each of the International League T20 (ILT20) and SA20, naming them MI Emirates and MI Cape Town, respectively.

While Rashid Khan has been named the skipper of the Cape Town team, former Mumbai Indians star Kieron Pollard will lead MI Emirates in the ILT20 tournament.

Both Khan and Pollard have the experience of leading a team in international cricket as well as the IPL. Khan captained Afghanistan in two Tests, seven ODIs and seven T20Is. He also led the Gujarat Titans (GT) in one match of IPL 2022 earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Pollard was the white-ball skipper of the West Indies team for a considerable period. He has experience captaining in 24 ODIs, 34 T20Is and six IPL games.

Rashid Khan will square off against his Gujarat Titans teammate David Miller in SA20 opener

SA20 will begin on January 10, 2023 with a match between MI Cape Town and the Paarl Royals. Rashid Khan will lead Cape Town, while his Gujarat Titans teammate David Miller will be the skipper of the Royals. Both players were part of the GT squad which lifted the IPL trophy earlier this year. They will play together in IPL 2023 as well.

Four other teams, namely Jo'burg Super Kings, Durban Super Giants, Pretoria Capitals, and SunRisers Eastern Cape, will participate in SA20. As the team names suggest, all six franchises are owned by IPL team owners.

It will be interesting to see which team comes out on top in the inaugural SA20 season. The tournament's final will take place on February 11 in Johannesburg.