Sunil Narine opened the innings in the previous game.
Durban’s Super Giants (DSG) and Paarl Royals (PR) will lock horns in Match No.27 of the SA20 2026 on Saturday afternoon. Here is our DSG vs PR game plan for this encounter to be played at Kingsmead in Durban.
Durban’s Super Giants: Sunil Narine, Aiden Markram (c), Jos Buttler, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Bedingham, Liam Livingstone, Evan Jones, David Wiese, Eathan Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, and Simon Harmer.
Paarl Royals: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wk), Asa Tribe, Dan Lawrence, Rubin Hermann, David Miller (c), Sikandar Raza, Delano Potgieter, Hardus Viljoen, Waqar Salamkheil, Bjorn Fortuin, and Ottneil Baartman.
The average first innings score at Kingsmead last season was 151. Spinners have enjoyed success here in recent years. This season saw contrasting pitches in two completed games, with one being low-scoring and the other yielding over 380 runs.
The team batting first has a win percentage of 50% at the venue in the SA20, compared to 33.8% by the team batting second. Despite that, teams will prefer to chase.
Durban’s Super Giants are still in the playoff race after gaining only 14 points from nine games. They can reach a maximum of 19 points with a win in this game and a bonus point. However, they will have to rely on other results to proceed.
One of the major reasons for their position in the SA20 2026 is their struggling batting unit. The form of Jos Buttler (apart from a couple of games) and Heinrich Klaasen has been a major issue, as well as Aiden Markram’s before moving to the top.
DSG have hardly had any batters playing big knocks, and they have ended up losing wickets more frequently. They have the second-worst average in the season, losing a wicket for every 22.65 runs. Only MI Cape Town are worse in this aspect, and they sit at the bottom of the table.
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The Super Giants had the option to open the innings with Jos Buttler alongside Aiden Markram, but they opted against it. Instead, they have tried Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Marques Ackerman, and Sunil Narine.
Narine opened the innings in the previous game against Paarl Royals and scored 22 off 11 to get them off to a flyer. But this move meant that David Bedingham was stuck in the middle order yet again, where he could manage only 25 off 26, effectively derailing their innings.
Bedingham is a quality player in the longer formats but doesn’t have a good record in T20 cricket. He averages just around 21 and strikes at 132 in overall T20s. He struggles in the middle order, particularly, where his strike rate drops to just 126.63.
Bedingham can be utilised much better at the top of the order. He has a similar average opening the innings as well, but his strike rate sees a significant jump to 139.64. Having him open can also give better entry points to Heinrich Klaasen and Liam Livingstone, both of whom are more dangerous when they get some time to get their eyes in.
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