West Indies Playing XI vs South Africa, 1st T20I, 2026- Shai Hope returns, star spinner out?

WI tour of SA starts on January 27 [Source: windiescricket/X.com]

The West Indies tour of South Africa 2026 gets underway on January 27 at the Boland Park, Paarl, with the first of the three T20Is at 9:30 pm (IST) as the respective teams end their T20 World Cup build-up with this series.

Before arriving in South Africa, the Caribbeans played a three-match T20I series in Dubai against Afghanistan with a second-string team at their disposal due to some players being rested and some playing in the SA20 league, which concluded on Sunday. As the series begins on Tuesday, here’s a look at the possible West Indies XI for the match.

West Indies predicted lineup vs South Africa – 1st T20I, Paarl

Top order batters – Shai Hope (c), Brandon King, Johnson Charles (wk)

The captain, Shai Hope, will be back in the team after a successful SA20 campaign on a personal note, where he got 276 runs in 11 innings, including a century, to help his team reach the final. Over the past couple of years, he has been one of the most improved T20 batters. He will be partnered by Brandon King, who captained the team in Dubai and scored 101 runs in 3 innings.

The number 3 batter, Johnson Charles, also returned to the side recently after missing out on the New Zealand series and is also a player who is set to go to the T20 World Cup in a couple of weeks. He will also be the wicketkeeper of the side.

Charles could also be seen swapping places with Hope at the top of the batting order, and the captain could bat 3.

Middle-order batters – Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford

The Test captain and all-rounder Roston Chase will bat at 4 to provide stability to a power-packed middle order. He has close to 2500 T20 runs to his name in 120 innings and can change gears according to the situation, and also bowl 4 overs of off-spin.

The remaining two batters of the middle-order, Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford, have a reputation for scoring at a very high strike rate and give their team’s innings a strong finish and an extra cushion to the total. Hetmyer has over 6000 T20 runs in 288 innings at a strike rate of 142.30, and Rutherford, who recently scored 334 runs in SA20 at a strike rate of 165.34 after a slump in New Zealand.

All-rounders- Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder

The two very capable all-rounders, Romario Shepherd and Jason Holder, will take the West Indies batting lineup till number 8 and bowl the complete quota of four overs each. Shepherd’s knack of picking wickets at crunch situations and scoring runs at a brisk pace, which shows in his T20 record, where he has scored 2444 runs at a strike rate of 156.66 with 181 towering sixes.

On the other hand, Jason Holder, who is only 3 wickets away from 100 T20I wickets, got a whopping 97 scalps in 68 T20 matches in 2025 will come in rich form and bring his death overs expertise to the fore after picking 58 wickets (the most) in over 15 to 20 last year.

Bowlers – Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, Shamar Joseph

While it will be a toss-up between Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein for the left-arm spin option, likely, Hosein, with 83 T20I wickets at an economy rate of 7.24, will get a nod for this series before they head to the World Cup, where both could feature.

The fast-bowling department will be led by the 24-year-old Jayden Seales, who picked 50 T20 wickets in his short career, including two four-wicket hauls at a strike rate of 17.2. Selaes, who is also new to T20I cricket, has 16 wickets in 14 innings at a bowling strike rate of 18; however, the economy rate is slightly high at 9.47 runs per over.