Cricket South Africa (CSA) can be forced to cut short their lone men's international home series of the summer against West Indies to allow both squads to reach the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in time. The Proteas are to host West Indies for five T20Is from January 27 to February 6. But reports indicate that the T20 World Cup will be contested between February 7 and March 8. If the multi-team tournament actually gets underway on February 7, the ICC support period the period in which the teams are supposed to arrive in the hosting nations and play non-mandatory warm-up matches begins on January 31. That has been brought forward to February 3, and CSA had planned their home matches with the consideration that South Africa would have a lot of time to travel to the T20 World Cup. It is not necessary for teams to utilize the entire ICC support period at one of the host locations. The ICC has requested countries that are participating to state how many warm-up games they would be available to play, with choices running from zero to two. Also Read | Watch: Wanindu Hasaranga mocks Abrar Ahmed's celebration in PAK vs SL Only when a nation requests two warm-up games will the support period be one week prior to the curtain raiser of the tournament. CSA is having talks with Cricket West Indies to learn when West Indies need to arrive at the subcontinent and how many warm-up games they are going to play there. In case teams prefer no warm-up matches, the ICC support duration is four days prior to the first match on February 7, i.e., February 3. Even if the West Indies choose the series against South Africa to be sufficient preparation for the 20-team World Cup, South Africa will have to eliminate at least the last two T20Is. The fourth and fifth T20Is are to be played on February 4 and 6, respectively. CSA cannot prepone the series as the fourth edition of SA20 will conclude on January 25. In the meantime, South Africa are not hosting too many games at home this summer to stage their venues for the 2027 ODI World Cup. There is development of drop-in pitches in the venues. Next year, South Africa will have an all-busier season, hosting ten home Tests (eight men and two women), including three-match series against Australia and England.