'Twas the night before 2026, when all around Newlands not a creature stirred, not even to fetch a beer. The stands were draped with a sell-out crowd, in hopes that Kagiso Rabada would soon be there.

And he was. During the warm-up, anyway, for Mumbai Indians Cape Town's SA20 game against Pretoria Capitals on Wednesday.

But would he play?

Rabada hadn't been on the field since October 23 because of a rib injury. He missed South Africa's most recent 15 matches and Cape Town's first two. He wouldn't have another chance to prove his fitness before the announcement of South Africa's T20 World Cup squad on Friday.

Dare the selectors pick him if he didn't play?

Even so, he was, is and always will be Kagiso Rabada. South Africa won a Test series in India without him in November, but the WTC winners are a significantly better team in that format. They have won only 10 of their 29 completed T20Is since losing the 2024 T20 World Cup final.

Dare the selectors not pick the finest South Africa fast bowler of his generation, or perhaps of any generation, or maybe the finest fast bowler from any generation anywhere, whether he played or not on Wednesday?

Relax. Rabada played on Wednesday.

And celebrated his return with his second delivery, an away swinger that Bryce Parsons leapt at and edged to be caught behind.

That over cost just two runs, an accurate reflection of its quality. Rabada ran in hot and hungry, and beat the bat or the batter more often than not.

He was given a second consecutive over, but Shai Hope launched the second delivery - a slower ball pitched short - over backward square leg for six. Still, 1/14 off two wasn't bad for someone who hadn't been involved in a match for 68 days.

"He's been very professional behind the scenes, trying to make sure he could come back," Robin Peterson said. "He was probably good to go in the last game, but we felt [he should sit out] one more game just to make sure that he's in the best possible mental space to trust his body."

Rabada returned to bowl the 16th. Wihan Lubbe lurched at the first delivery, wide outside off, and edged it to deep third for four. Two balls later Lubbe was rushed into a drive, which he sent into the darkening sky above mid-on. From long-on Reeza Hendricks sprinted, swooped, dived and took the catch; to Rabada's dazzling delight.

No-one else but Rabada was going to bowl the last. The second delivery took the inside half of Dewald Brevis' bat and screamed to fine leg for four. Brevis pulled meatily at the third, which skied, skewed and swirled towards backward square leg - where the catch popped out of Corbin Bosch's hands. Three runs in wides from two balls after that, and a smoked six over cover by Sherfane Rutherford, another botched pull - this time by Rutherford - blooped to mid-on. Nicholas Pooran overran the descending ball, and a second chance thudded to earth. Brevis hammered the last delivery of the innings high and hard over long-off for six.

What might have been four-for-something became 2/48; an economy rate of 12.00. Rabada wasn't the most expensive of Cape Town's bowlers - Bosch went at 12.66 and Dwaine Pretorius at a painful 18.00 in two overs. More importantly, he looked and bowled like Kagiso Rabada and not like someone gingerly nursing his way back from injury.

Last Tuesday, at the captains' press conference in Cape Town, Rabada stood in for Cape Town skipper Rashid Khan, who was on his way back from the ILT20. Asked how he was, Rabada began his answer by looking over his shoulder. "I've got to be careful with what I say because the medical team aren't here," he said, before proclaiming his fitness: "I feel fine".

Be careful? Why? Don't cricketers enjoy bodily autonomy? No, they don't. As workers in what might be called the physical economy, they are bought and paid for. In that sense, their bodies are not their own.

So whether they play or not is the medical team's decision and no-one else's. Not Rabada, who was clearly keen to get back onto the park. Not the selectors, Shukri Conrad and Patrick Moroney, who know a world class matchwinner when they see one. Not South Africa's fans, who feel nervous whenever Rabada isn't around. Without the medical team's say-so Rabada would never have been in Cape Town's XI.

How did Peterson feel about being part of the process of managing one of the game's premier attractions?

"That's our duty of care to KG. He's a world-class performer and he's someone we value highly in our dressingroom. We have a great medical team. The recovery process that the players follow is rigorous. He's got the best people behind him to make sure he gets through this tournament."

Rabada was also in this conversation, as Peterson made clear: "It's about him resting when he needs to. He's experienced enough to know when his body needs to have recovery, when he needs to rest, when he needs to bowl. He's managed that beautifully. We'll manage him, but we need him to play. So we look after him as much as we can."

Even so, without the medical team's say-so Rabada would never have been in Cape Town's XI on Wednesday.

He might have wished he wasn't. Shai Hope's 45 flew off 30 balls, Lubbe's 60 off 36, Brevis' unbeaten 36 off 13, and Rutherford's 47 not out off 15. Will Smeed and Hope drilled 33 off 19, Hope and Lubbe 88 off 55, and Brevis and Rutherford an unbroken 86 off 27. Between them, Bosch and Pretorius were hit for six consecutive sixes in the 18th and 19th. Ninety-two runs ballooned off the last five overs. It was as if someone had tripped the detonators on the New Year fireworks hours early.

Pretoria soared to 220/5, which meant that Cape Town would need a tournament record chase to win. That became impossible when they lost six wickets for 25 runs to slump to 125/8 in the 13th en route to a miserable 135 all out inside 15 overs with Keshav Maharaj taking 3/28 and Rutherford 4/24.

Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton hustled 60 off 32 for the first wicket, but that was Cape Town's only noteworthy stand. Rickelton was dropped twice on his way to a 17-ball 33, and Pooran clubbed the first two deliveries he faced - bowled by Parsons - for six, then hit Maharaj for consecutive sixes, then holed out to Maharaj next ball for 25 off six.

Cape Town needed a lot more where that came from. It never came, and they slumped to their second loss in as many completed games. There was happier news for Pretoria, who earned their first win in three matches.

"Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!" Especially to you, KG.