Joburg Super Kings and Durban’s Super Giants will lock horns in the Qualifier 2 of the 2024 SA20 season, with the winner all set to compete in the final against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Joburg Super Kings have not had the best of seasons, but they will be happy with how they managed to advance to this stage. Faf du Plessis’ team finished fourth in the league phase, where they won three of their ten matches and got 17 points. After that, they defeated Paarl Royals by nine wickets in the Eliminator contest.
In comparison, Durban’s Super Giants have had a much better season so far. Keshav Maharaj’s men narrowly missed out on finishing first after the league stage, where they won seven of their ten matches and earned 32 points. However, they were defeated by Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Qualifier 1.
What has happened so far?
Joburg Super Kings had a disastrous start to their season, as they were winless in the first four games. Last season’s semi-finalists started their journey with an abandoned match against Sunrisers Eastern Cape before they were handed a thrashing 98-run defeat by MI Cape Town.
They then lost by 37 runs against the Super Giants and by 7 wickets against Paarl Royals but finally found winning ways in their fifth match, where they defeated Pretoria Capitals by six wickets.
The joy was short-lived as they then lost to Paarl Royals and the return leg fixture against the Capitals was washed out, but remained in the playoffs hunt with a 10-wicket win against MI Cape Town. Despite a defeat against Sunrisers once again, the Super Kings qualified for the next round when they defeated the Super Giants by 7 wickets in their last league stage match. In the Eliminator, they handed Paarl Royals a nine-wicket defeat.
Durban’s Super Giants’ start to the campaign was exactly the opposite of Super Kings’, as they won all of their first three matches. Maharaj’s team defeated MI Cape Town by 11 runs in their first match, before beating Sunrisers by 35 runs and the Super Kings by 37 runs.
They received their first jolt when they suffered two back-to-back defeats – first a 17-run loss against Pretoria Capitals, and then a 5-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Eastern Cape. But they bounced back with four straight wins.
The men in blue defeated MI Cape Town by 36 runs, and then Paarl Royals by 57 runs and 125 runs respectively, in two consecutive fixtures. In their penultimate league stage game, they defeated Pretoria Capitals by 8 runs.
But that being said, the Super Giants will be coming into this fixture on the back two back-to-back losses. They lost by 7 wickets in the last league stage match against Joburg Super Kings, before a 51-run loss against Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Qualifier 1.
Head to Head Record
When it comes to head-to-head records, Joburg Super Kings are head and shoulders over Duban’s Super Giants. These two teams have crossed paths on four occasions, where the Super Kings have won three games, while the Super Giants have won only one game.
The last meeting, which took place in Johannesburg only a few days ago, saw the Super Kings winning by 7 wickets. Durban batted first and scored 203 runs, but du Plessis’ team chased it down at the loss of only three wickets. Both the skipper and his opening partner, Leus du Plooy, scored half-centuries.
Key Players
Leus du Plooy (Joburg Super Kings): Although he has never played international cricket, du Plooy has been among the best batters in this tournament. The Joburg Super Kings opener has scored 367 runs in 10 matches, with an average of over 40 and a strike rate of nearly 160. He has three half-centuries to his name.
Leus du Plooy has been Joburg Super Kings’ best batter
The first of those half-centuries came in the first-leg fixture against Paarl Royals, where he scored 71 runs. He also scored 58 in the last league stage match against the Super Giants and then struck 68 runs in the Eliminator contest against the Royals. Besides that, he went into the forties in both matches against MI Cape Town.
Heinrich Klaasen (Durban’s Super Giants): Heinrich Klaasen is not the leading run-scorer for his team, although he can be called the most impact Durban’s Super Giants player. He has scored 373 runs at an average of over 40, with a superb strike rate of over 200. Like du Plooy, Klaasen has also scored three half-centuries.
Klaasen’s best performance came in the very first match of his team, where he scored 85 runs in only 35 deliveries against MI Cape Town. Later on, he scored 64 in the first leg match against Joburg Super Kings and also got a half-century in the second leg match against Paarl Royals.
Predicted XIs
Joburg Super Kings: Faf du Plessis ©, Leus du Plooy, Reeza Hendricks, Sibonelo Makhanya, Moeen Ali, Donovan Ferreira (wk), Doug Bracewell, Dayyaan Galiem, Sam Cook, Nandre Burger, Imran Tahir.
Durban’s Super Giants: Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Quinton de Kock (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, JJ Smuts, Dwaine Pretorius, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj ©, Reece Topley, Junior Dala, Naveen-ul-Haq.
Prediction
Although it can be said that momentum will be favouring Joburg Super Kings, considering how they played in the Eliminator against Paarl Royals. But if we take the entire season’s performance into consideration, Durban’s Super Giants have been much better. Hence, they will start this game as the favorites.