WI vs SA: Chance for discards and out-of-formers to make statements

In this three-match T20I series, players like Charles and de Kock need to get in form before the World Cup.

It seems sense to play three T20 internationals the week before a T20 World Cup, unless, of course, half your team is injured.

Both South Africa and the West Indies are in the same predicament, lacking several players from their tournament squads, including their captains.

Along with Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, and Alzarri Joseph for the West Indies, and Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, and Kagiso Rabada for South Africa, the IPL roster includes Rovman Powell, Aiden Markram, and others. While some, like Rabada, are recuperating from illness, others, like Pooran and Hope, are taking it easy. Not all of them are still playing in the IPL.

In light of this, the T20 World Cup co-hosts are using this series as a hybrid warm-up and experiment as they take on one of three main tournament contenders over the next three months. In August, South Africa will play three additional T20 Internationals and two Tests in the Caribbean. previous matches will not have as much weight as previous ones, where declarations need to be made. Particularly by the following:

Johnson Since returning to the West Indies T20I team in South Africa last year, where he struck a career-high 118 off of 46 balls, Charles has cemented himself as a first-choice opener with Brandon King (cue the monarch jokes). The issue is that he hasn't accomplished much since then. After that, Charles has played in eight T20I innings, going above 30 only once and being removed four times in single digits. But there are indications that things might change. During a recent tour of Nepal, he led West Indies A in runs scored and will look to improve on that performance in front of the T20 World Cup.

Since quitting ODI cricket last November, Quinton de Kock has had three consecutive bad T20 league seasons. This has caused South Africa, the opponent, to have concerns. After scoring 104 runs in six innings in the BBL, 213 in 12 at the SA20, and 250 in 11 at the IPL (though that did include three fifties), he was especially out of sorts. At every tournament, his numbers have at least marginally increased. De Kock will want to perform well in what may be his final international assignment because he was chosen for the World Cup squad based more on reputation than on ability, beating out at least two other possibilities in Matthew Breetzke and Rassie van der Dussen.