Rickelton returns, but keeps his eagerness quiet

Ryan Rickelton returns. It sounds like the title of a feelgood movie. How good did he feel to be back? Oddly, Rickelton's eagerness wasn't obvious when he spoke to reporters in Cape Town.

"Yeah, it's always good to be back, I guess," he said. "I trained for an hour today, so I don't really have a sense of it yet. But when the games and the meetings happen, I'll have a nice sense of what the team's about."

Despite scoring a 63-ball 113 for MI Cape Town eight days before Cricket South Africa prematurely announced the T20 World Cup squad, Rickelton was not selected. The folly of naming the squad so early was made plain eight days later when he scored 113 not out off 60 balls for Joburg Super Kings.

Did he have a point to prove?

"Not really. I just wanted to try and find my groove and get some scores. It's a tournament that brings out the best in me. I love batting. I love cricket. I love T20 cricket. I wasn't trying to prove a point. I was just trying to make sure that I got back to my best."

Rickelton was included in the World Cup squad as a replacement for the injured Tony de Zorzi. Tristan Stubbs, another original omission, also snuck into the squad after an injury to Donovan Ferreira.

"I was at a braai at Stubbo's house and we saw Ferreira go down, and I said, 'Tristan, there's a call coming your way,'" Rickelton said.

He described his own late call-up as a surprise: "I was actually quite okay with [being left out]. Mentally I made peace with it. I planned a nice month… So getting a call saying, 'Your holiday's over, you're coming back…'"

"It's always a massive honour to go to the World Cup and represent South Africa. It's really exciting for me."

This won't be Rickelton's first World Cup. He was in the squad that reached the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, though he didn't play a single match. That is unlikely to be his fate this time—he seems set to bat at No. 3 behind Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock.

South Africa will play their group matches in Ahmedabad and Delhi. Rickelton averages 17.33 across formats in India. His Asian tour ended in December with a pair of ducks in ODIs. How might he reverse that trend?

"I'll leverage my experience in the IPL and try to use that to my betterment," he said, referencing the 388 runs he scored at a strike rate of 150.97 for Mumbai Indians last season.

"At ICC events, everything ramps up. Especially in India, where cricket is a religion. The intensity at which the game is played goes through the roof. Everyone gets up for it. Every game is a big game. Hopefully we can progress to the Super Eights, where each game gets more difficult and more important."

"If I can match and rival that intensity, then I give myself and the team the best chance."

If that happens, Ryan Rickelton's return will make a movie worth watching.