Rickelton channels his inner KL Rahul in latest SA20 blitz as he hopes South Africa remember him for later.
After being left out of South Africa’s 2026 T20 World Cup squad, Ryan Rickelton hopes that his second century at the SA20 would serve as a reminder of what he is capable of.
Rickelton scored 113* off 60 balls for MI Cape Town against Johannesburg Super Kings, helping MICT move up from the bottom of the points table and win their second straight game.
Rickelton celebrated his century at his home venue, the Wanderers, by drawing on KL Rahul, who, after scoring the winning runs for Delhi Capitals against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the previous year’s IPL, pounded his chest and pointed to the ground.
For background, Rahul was on the other team that evening as well, but he was at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where he had grown up playing cricket. When Rickelton slammed his bat into the Wanderers’ pitch, acknowledged his MICT badge and raised his arms, he was trying to convey the same idea. He then disclosed that it was prearranged.
“I was actually thinking about celebrations recently. I saw KL Rahul do it in the IPL, probably when he was in between teams and just letting everyone know that he’s there. I don’t know why that was at the top of my mind, but it just came out the way it did,” he said in a broadcast interview post-match. “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. It was just the one at the front of my mind. I remember KL’s celebration quite vividly.”
Rickelton has been sidelined by South Africa, in part due to Quinton de Kock’s return and in part due to his own poor form, much to Rahul, who was dropped from India’s Twenty20 International team.
Rickelton was benched for the subcontinental series in Pakistan and India after scoring one T20I half-century in five innings during South Africa’s tours of Australia and England, which ended in a defeat. He also fought in ODIs, when he recorded consecutive ducks in India and top-scored with 35 in eight innings throughout the away tours.
“In India, a couple of months ago, I didn’t know if I was coming or going at that stage. I wasn’t sure just what I was trying to do,” Rickelton said. “It’s such a big mental game and trying to work out my own game around that is probably the most difficult thing. I felt in India I was actually batting quite nicely, I just didn’t have anything to return for it.”
“You come back, experience your family and friends around you, and actually get to enjoy South Africa and being home. It can change the mental state, I suppose,” Rickelton said. “When you jump from team to team, it gives you a new opportunity, a new perspective and I’ve had that when I come to this team.
“It’s probably the team that gets the best out of me, frees me up in the way I want to play, and it takes me to probably the level I want to operate at 90% of the time. I just enjoy playing for this team. I enjoy the group of players we’ve got. I enjoy the life we have in Cape Town as well. What’s not to love?”