Ryan Rickelton could hardly have chosen a louder stage on which to knock. Back at the Wanderers, the left-hander powered 113 not out from 60 deliveries, steering MI Cape Town past Joburg Super Kings and off the foot of the SA20 table. The innings, his second hundred of the competition, arrived barely a week after he was omitted from South Africa’s provisional squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
In the moment of triumph the 29-year-old thumped his chest, pointed to the turf and jabbed his bat into the pitch – a move borrowed, he later admitted, from KL Rahul’s celebrated gesture at the Chinnaswamy last IPL season.
“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 explained on the host broadcast. “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.”
There is context. Rickelton endured a lean white-ball tour of Australia and England and fared no better on the sub-continent, recording only one T20I fifty in five attempts and a string of modest ODI returns – including successive ducks in India. With Quinton de Kock back in the mix, the selectors looked elsewhere.
“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,” he said later in the press conference. “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.”
The domestic circuit has offered refuge. Rickelton began this SA20 with a hundred at Newlands and now tops the tournament’s run charts. Surrounded by familiar faces and sleeping in his own bed, he has rediscovered rhythm – a reminder that form in franchise cricket often hinges on comfort as much as technique.
“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,” he added. “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.”
Selectors rarely ignore sustained weight of runs, especially at a strike-rate north of 180. The World Cup may be only months away, yet injuries or loss of form elsewhere can quickly re-open doors. For now, Rickelton’s task is simple: keep scoring, keep reminding, and let the celebration – borrowed or not – take care of itself.
