Aiden Markram's unbeaten 86, supported by George Linde's exceptional bowling, led South Africa to a comfortable nine-wicket win over the West Indies in the first T20I. Markram's classy knock came off 47 balls, with nine boundaries and three sixes, and he shared an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 93 with Ryan Rickelton, who scored 40. The West Indies posted 173-7, with Shimron Hetmyer hitting 48 off 32 balls, but it wasn't enough to trouble South Africa. South Africa's Aiden Markram led from the front, scoring an unbeaten 86 off 47 balls, guiding his team to a comfortable nine-wicket win over West Indies. Hetmyer takes on Maharaj Though Maharaj took two wickets early on, he was on the receiving end of some of West Indies' biggest hits from Hetmyer. With West Indies' 100 up in the 14th over, Hetmyer decided to up the ante, advanced on Maharaj and hit him 102 metres into the Paarl night for his first six. Two balls later, Hetmyer came down the track again, and sent the ball into the wind and over deep midwicket for a second six. Maharaj's final over cost 16 runs and he finished with figures of 2 for 44 in four overs, the most expensive of his T20I career. Hetmyer was dismissed when Dewald Brevis caught him off Linde. Markram's partnerships with Lhuan-dre Pretorius (83 runs) and Ryan Rickelton (93 runs) laid the foundation for South Africa's victory, which was sealed with 13 balls to spare. West Indies struggled to build significant partnerships, with Shimron Hetmyer's 48 being the top score, and their batters falling frequently. South Africa's spin duo, George Linde and Keshav Maharaj, claimed five wickets between them. South Africa 176 for 1 (Markram 86*, Pretorius 44, Rickelton 40*, Chas 1-31) beat West Indies 173 for 7 (Hetmyer 48, Linde 3-25, Bosch 2-35, Maharaj 2-44) by nine wickets