West Indies skipper Shai Hope remembered a conversation he had with Indian great MS Dhoni during the Windies’ four-wicket victory against England in the first One-Day International on Sunday, December 3. Hope stated that MS Dhoni told him, ‘You always have a lot more time than you think’.
Hope hit 109* off 83 balls as West Indies chased down a 326-run target in 48.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The 30-year-old hit three sixes in four balls against Sam Curran to propel the hosts to victory.
During the post-match presentation, the keeper-batter recalled some instruction he received from Dhoni.
“A very, very famous person, MS Dhoni – we had a chat a while ago, and he was saying, ‘You always have a lot more time than you think’. That’s one thing that has stuck with me throughout the years I’ve been playing ODI cricket.”
Shai Hope
Speaking to Cricket West Indies’ in-house channels, he stated that, given the dimensions of the field and the wind component, he decided it was preferable to target Curran’s over.
“We knew it was a challenge to score from the other end, especially going against the breeze… regardless of what happened, I was going to try and take down that second-to-last over to give us the best chance of winning the game.”
“After the second [six of the 49th over], I knew we pretty much had the game in the balance. If we had that over to finish the game, I always try to finish the game with one over to spare if I can. I don’t want to leave it to anyone else, so the aim was to finish off at the back end.”
Shai Hope
Hope hit four fours and seven sixes in his innings, bringing up his 16th one-day century.
“He’s one of those guys you can depend on” – Shai Hope on Romario Shepherd
West Indies had a strong start in chasing a difficult total, with Alick Athanaze (66 off 65) and Brandon King (35 off 44) adding 104 for the first wicket. Romario Shepherd then hammered 48 off 28 balls, combining with Hope for 89 runs for the sixth wicket.
“He was amazing. He’s one of those guys you can depend on and he’s continued to show his worth at this level. We’re starting the series on a high and the aim is to repeat this in the second game.”
Shai Hope
The next match, which is the second ODI between West Indies and England, is set to happen in Antigua. The scheduled date? Wednesday, December 6.