Cape Town (South Africa): Defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Durban’s Super Giants will meet at a sold-out Newlands for the much-anticipated SA20 Season 2 final on Saturday with the Super Giants hoping to exact revenge for their defeat earlier in the tournament.
It is a rematch of Qualifier 1 played earlier this week in Cape Town, which the Sunrisers comfortably won by 51 runs, to book their second successive appearance in the grand showpiece. The Super Giants, meanwhile, had to take the long route up to Johannesburg to face the Joburg Super Kings in Qualifier 2 at the Wanderers.
Keshav Maharaj’s team raised themselves for the occasion, defeating the Super Kings by 69 runs to secure their first-ever SA20 final appearance. The Sunrisers have the experience of winning last year’s final before a packed Wanderers Stadium and captain Aiden Markram believes this along with the recuperation gained this week will benefit his team on Saturday.
“We’ve had a couple of days off to recharge and rest and had a nice training session on Friday to get the energy back up,” said Markram. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow. It’s going to be a fantastic day and I’m sure when we rock up we’ll be filled with plenty of energy and plenty of excitement.
“It can only help those that were involved last year and ultimately the occasion is what it is on the side. We will try to put our best foot forward and see where it takes us from a result point of view.”
The Super Giants, meanwhile, will be battle-hardened after their extra match and will certainly take the confidence of having bounced back at the Bullring into the showdown with the Sunrisers.
“We are excited and energetic. The guys are still buzzing from last night. It was a brilliant clinical performance for us after a bit of a little wobble along the way,” said captain Maharaj.
“For us it’s all about the execution and having clarity in regards to our gameplans and hopefully it is enough to triumph over the Sunrisers tomorrow.”
–IANS