Jos Buttler made 68 and while he was at the crease the Royals always stood a chance, but once he was dismissed by Jofra Archer at the start of the 18th over, there was not enough left in the hosts' tank
Paarl: MI Cape Town 142-9, Paarl Royals 129-6 - MI Cape Town won by 13 runs
MI Cape Town ended a run of two defeats in a row with a disciplined bowling performance to defend a mediocre total at Boland Park.
Cape Town, who went into the game of back-to-back losses to Sunrisers Eastern Cape, posted 142 for 9 batting first after losing the toss, with Rassie van der Dussen's 49 underpinning their innings.
That did not seem enough but Paarl Royals, in front of a sell-out home crowd, found the going tough in response.
Jos Buttler made 68 and while he was at the crease the Royals always stood a chance, but once he was dismissed by Jofra Archer at the start of the 18th over, there was not enough left in the hosts' tank.
Paarl Royals were defeated at home in front of a big crowd [Sportzpics/CSA/SA20]
MI Cape Town defended 142 at Boland Park [Sportzpics/CSA/SA20]
Earlier, van der Dussen resuscitated MI Cape Town's innings after another false start, which included another failure for Dewald Brevis (2 off 10 balls).
The South African international paired with Grant Roelofsen to turn 9 for 3 into 72 for 3, before the Royals got their claws back into their opponents.
Ferisco Adams had Roelofsen caught and, though George Linde added a quick 24, the lower middle order could not make the most of the platform handed to them by van der Dussen.
Imaad Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Adam and Tabraiz Shamsi all claimed two wickets.
The Paarl reply started in the same blunt form as their opponents'. Four of the Royals' top five failed to score more than 4, and they found themselves 30 for 4 after seven overs.
Buttler's 68 included nine fours, but Rashid Khan kept both him and his partners quiet through the middle overs - Khan's four overs went for 16, all of which were singles - and the required run rate edged ever higher.
Jos Buttler's 68 was in vain [Sportzpics/CSA/SA20]
MI Cape Town were disciplined with the ball [Sportzpics/CSA/SA20]
Paarl needed 54 from the final five overs, with both Buttler and David Miller set. Then Miller was caught off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada, and the burden fell on Buttler - who was dismissed by England teammate Archer attempting an in-to-out drive and nicking through to Roelofsen.
Miller said afterwards: "I thought they were below par but losing wickets in our powerplay didn't help.
"It can be quite difficult to score boundaries here, so we tried to get ourselves in a good position.
"We've got a quick turnaround. If we win tomorrow, we are back in the hunt so it's certainly not doom and gloom.
"The batters have done well throughout the competition at different stages, we just need to build partnerships."
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