Rickelton 'at peace' if he doesn't make South Africa's T20 World Cup squad

MI Cape Town (MICT) opening batter Ryan Rickelton has "made peace with where I am at the moment" after being dropped from South Africa's T20 squad in the series before the T20 World Cup in favour of Quinton de Kock. With the squad for the tournament set to be announced this week, Rickelton made sure he will be considered with a 63-ball 113 in the SA20 2026 opener but has accepted that he may find himself on the outside.

"I am just trying to find my feet again with the bat and contribute," Rickelton said after his century in Cape Town. "I'm at peace with whatever happens. Obviously this tournament is a platform for players to put their hands up but I'm definitely not thinking about it [the World Cup]. I am just trying to enjoy the game again which maybe when you're not finding [a spot in the XI] in India, can be quite hard."

Rickelton had a difficult tour of the subcontinent which peaked with 71 in the first innings of the first Test against Pakistan in Lahore. He failed to cross fifty in his next seven Test innings, was rested from the white-ball leg of the Pakistan tour and recorded successive ducks in two ODIs against India. His returns were in stark contrast to the way he started 2025, with a double hundred in the New Year's Test against Pakistan before becoming the fourth-highest run scorer in the third edition of the SA20 and registering a maiden ODI hundred against Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy.

His contrasting fortunes took a toll on him and peaked during the ODIs in India and left him craving the comfort of home.

"It's been an up and down year. It started really nicely but at the back end, had a tough white ball leg in India," he said. "It was a tough last couple of months mentally. I can be quite negative and sometimes in cricket we dive into our heads very easily and it's tough to get away. That's what I think makes touring the subcontinent quite hard is that it's tough to get out of your own head.

"The beauty of Cape Town, the beauty of South Africa is that you get the opportunity to just get outside and just experience a bit more than the game of cricket, especially the game of cricket in your head. I have family and friends here. I got the opportunity to not even think about the game until I had to think about it. That's probably the biggest blessing and the biggest enjoyment I get out of playing here in Cape Town and Newlands."

Though Rickelton's domestic career is rooted in Johannesburg, he has enjoyed great success in Cape Town, with both MICT and the national side. He was the leading run-scorer in the SA20 in 2024, which, along with de Kock's ODI retirement and T20 unavailability, helped him force his way into the South African team. Now, with de Kock, who does almost exactly the same thing as a left-handed opening batter and wicket-keeper, Rickelton's place is at risk, both with South Africa and at the IPL. MI, where Rickelton scored three fifties in his first IPL season this year, acquired de Kock at the auction for a steal of one crore (approx US$111,300).

De Kock plays for Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 and opened his account with a 24-ball 42 against Paarl Royals on Saturday and will be in action again on Monday.

From the opening exchanges, Rickelton may consider himself to have the upper hand although there may also be room for both players in the squad. National coach Shukri Conrad has previously said his team could include both de Kock and Rickelton but they are also competing with captain Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetkze and Reeza Hendricks and even Rassie van der Dussen. Already, Rickelton could have edged ahead of van der Dussen and Hendricks, who scored 2 and 28 in the same match where Rickelton made his highest T20 score.

His century included 11 sixes, the most in an SA20 innings, but came in losing cause as MICT fell 15 runs short of a record chase of 233. Though Rickelton fell in the final over, he took his team close and the size of the target helped him find his touch.

"When you're chasing 233, you don't have a lot of time to think so you've just got to take the game on and that somehow brings out a nice version of me in my T20 cricket," he said. "The beauty of those kinds of scores is that you just have to play. You can't really take your time. You try to have more of an impact on the game. Once you get out the powerplay, if you fancy a guy, you go. We have so many superstars and guys that can whack it out the park as well so it frees you up a bit. And if you get a matchup or you get a sniff where you can take someone down, you back yourself to take someone down."

Whether it was enough to earn Rickelton a T20 World Cup spot will be known on Friday, when South Africa announce their 15.