SA T20: The 2025-26 season of South Africa’s T20 league SA20 saw an innings which changed the history of the tournament. Experienced West Indies batsman Shay Hope, while playing for Pretoria Capitals, played such an explosive inning against Durban Super Giants, which surprised the fans as well as the cricket experts.
Shay Hope’s storm in SA T20

In this match played at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, Shay Hope came to open and remained at the crease till the end. He scored unbeaten 118 runs in 69 balls and took his team to a strong score of 201 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs. This is the biggest individual innings so far in the history of SA20. During this, She Hope hit fours and sixes. 9 fours and 9 sixes came from his bat. That means 90 runs came only from boundaries, which clearly shows the strength of his batting.

old record broken

Earlier, the feat of playing the biggest innings in SA20 was done by Kyle Verreynne. He had scored 116 runs last season. However, Shay Hope made this record in her name by scoring two more runs. The special thing was that this match was the 200th match of his T20 career and he made this memorable day even more special with a century. So far, Shay Hope has scored more than 5,350 runs in 195 innings in T20 cricket. Now 4 centuries and 27 half-centuries have been registered in his name.

Strong comeback after bad start

This innings is also considered special because Shay Hope’s bat had remained silent before this in the current season. In the first 5 matches, only 88 runs came from his bat. He could not even score a half-century yet. In such a situation, questions were being raised on him, but in this match he gave a befitting reply to the critics.

Didn’t get a chance in IPL, SA dominates in T20

Interestingly, Shay Hope did not find any buyer in the IPL 2025 auction. While on one hand the IPL franchises did not show confidence in him, on the other hand he showed his class in SA20. His innings was also very important for Pretoria Capitals, because the team had to struggle in the initial matches.

The fourth season of South Africa’s T20 League SA20 has become even more exciting with the auction. In this auction in Johannesburg, many players got a big bid, while Kavya Maran’s team Sunrisers Eastern Cape also made headlines. The team not only bought many new players but has also announced the new captain for the next season.

This young player made his captain

Sunrisers Eastern Cape has appointed 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Triston Stabs as the new captain of the team. Stubs is associated with the first season with the team and has won the team many times with his aggressive batting and wicketkeeping. He has been included in the team as a captain in place of Aidan Markram. Markram contributed significantly to Sunrisers twice in 2023 and 2024, but in the recent auction, Durban Super Giants (DSG) bought them in a record amount of Rs 7 crore. In such a situation, the team had to choose the new captain.

Stabs performance so far

Triston Stabs has shown a great game in the last three seasons of the SA20. He scored 723 runs that season and during that time his strike rate was 140.11. Many of his innings have proved decisive in the victory of the team. For this reason, Sunrisers have entrusted him with the responsibility of captaining the team. The Stabs was retained even before the season started, England star batsman Johnny Bairstow was pre-entered.

Big bets in auction

During the auction, Sunrisers Eastern Cape has included many strong players in their team. These include Quinton de Kock, Matthew Breetzake, Enark Northern, Senuran Muthusamy, Patrick Krurgar, Lutho Sipamala, Mitchell Van Buran, Jordan Harman, James Kols, Chris Wood, Lewis Gregory, CJ King, JP King and Bairs Swanepel. With the arrival of these players, the team seems even more balanced.

Full squad of Sunrisers

Triston Stabs (Captain), Johnny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Matthew Breetzke, Allah Gajanfar, Marco Jansan, Adam Milne, Enrich Northern, Jordan Harman, Senuran Muthusamy, Luis Gregory, Patrick Krunpale, Bairs Swanepael, Baires Swanepale Buran, Chris Wood, CJ King and JP King.