T20 World Cup 2021: Match 18 – South Africa vs West Indies Match Preview, Playing XI and broadcast details

When South Africa and West Indies meet on October 26, at least a thing would change: one of them will get to winning ways. Both the teams come against each other with losses in the World Cup opening encounters. Although South Africa’s loss was far more respectable – they made Australia fight until the last over despite having managed an undercooked 118/9.

But for a team billed as one of the leading contenders to lift the trophy, West Indies did very little in their opening fixture against England, as they scripted a record low. Their star-studded batting unit endured a horrific collapse, as they tumbled to their second-lowest T20I total, a meagre 55, on a day when their batters had nowhere to hide against Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.

Their skipper Kieron Pollard termed the defeat as “unacceptable”, as he found himself short of words to explain what transpired. “There are no words to explain it. Being bundled out for 55 is unacceptable. We accept that. We accept the responsibility. These sorts of games, we just have to bin it and move on,” he said while also adding that “I don’t think any sort of panic will come into the camp”.

Perhaps, a solitary loss should indeed not prompt the superstars of the shortest format to press the panic buttons, but the England routing was West Indies’ third loss on the trot, including the two warm-up games they lost against Pakistan and Afghanistan earlier. Getting back to winning ways is the need of the hour for them, not least because the group they belong to has no easy matches.

That’s equally applicable for South Africa, who entered the multi-team event with victories in each one of their last three bilateral series, including their 3-2 win at home against their immediate rivals. Following that, the Proteas blanked both Ireland and Sri Lanka 3-0 away. But the level of competition, as they discovered against Australia, is way higher. And that’s a given in a World Cup.

With matches coming thick and fast, neither team can afford to leave things for too late.

Pitch and conditions

Even if the West Indies want to “bin” and “move on” from their previous encounter at the venue, keeping a few things in the memory from the game would not be a bad idea. Their collapse was more down to poor application than any demons in the pitch. So, not repeating those mistakes must be in their minds. In the latest encounter at the venue, Pakistan made light work of a 151-chase against India, adding one more win to the chaser’s column, which now reads 11 wins in the last 15 games.

Playing combination for SA vs WI

South Africa

Despite the loss, there is not much expected to the end of changing their XI as far as South Africa are concerned. The only punt they might want to play would be to shuffle the batting order a tad bit to give the hard-hitting batters more time in the middle.

Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Heinrich Klassen, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi

West Indies

Pollard made it clear that the team will not make “wholesale changes” in what was their “best XI” after a solitary loss. The only probable inclusion could be that of Roston Chase, who had an impressive run of form in CPL 2021 and could bring plenty with his all-round ability. However, axing anyone from this XI looks quite a task.

Predicted XI: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer/Roston Chase, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Andre Russell, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul

SA vs WI Head-to-head

Overall

Matches- 15, South Africa – 9, West Indies – 6, Tied- 0

In T20 World Cups

Matches- 3, South Africa – 2, West Indies – 1, Tied- 0

SA vs WI Broadcast Details

Match Timings – 03:30 PM IST

TV – Star Sports Network

Live Streaming – Disney+Hotstar