West Indies Hope ‘not pleased’ with milestone hundred

SHAI Hope, the vice-captain of the West Indies One-Day International (ODI), said he was not pleased with his milestone century in the second match of the three-game series against India at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair, on Sunday, especially since the West Indies lost a tense contest by two wickets.

Hope scored 115 off 135 deliveries, with eight fours and three sixes, as the West Indies posted 311/6. But Axar Patel, who was named the Man of the Match, blasted an unbeaten 64 off 35 deliveries (five sixes and three fours) as India responded with 312/8 off 49.4 overs.

Hope became the fourth West Indian batsman, after Sir Gordon Greenidge, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, to score a century in his 100th ODI.

But the wicketkeeper/batsman, during the post-game media conference, acknowledged, “I never feel too pleased with the so-called accolades when the team does not get over the line.

“I always try to score runs and contribute to wins. If it doesn’t contribute to a win, it doesn’t feel the same.”

Hope had his struggles with the bat, during the 3-0 series loss to Bangladesh, in Guyana, earlier this month (with scores of zero, 18 and two), while he was dismissed for seven in the first ODI against India, at the Oval, on Friday.

He said, “My desire to bat as long as I can. I love batting. I love to stay at the crease and do whatever I can for the team’s benefit, just the desire and the hunger to stay out there in the middle.”

But the opening batsman is not keen to rest on his laurels.

“I think the key is just to keep learning and you never know it all in anything,” he pointed out. “It’s just about trying to learn and develop as best as I can while continuing doing some things that I’ve been doing well. It’s all about adding to your game as best as you can.”

India rested frontline fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami for the tour, while experienced left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja will miss the three-match ODI series due to injury.

But Hope made it clear that “I don’t necessarily play names, it’s about doing the job on the day.”

He continued, “Someone who may not be so-called recognised in international cricket may not mean he isn’t as good or even better than the particular person that we are speaking about.”

With regards to Patel’s match-winning knock, Hope said, “It was a good innings. I think he really (shepherded) the latter half of that innings. (Sunday) was definitely his day and you must give him credit.”

India’s vice-captain Shreyas Iyer acknowledged that, while there were tense moments, his teammates were able to maintain their composure in the last powerplay; India scored 100 runs off the final ten overs.

“It was fun to be honest,” said Iyer. “We were all sitting together and Rahul (Dravid, the team’s coach) was getting really tense. A lot of players showed really good emotions out there. They were very calm and composed in the pressure situations.

“Since we have played so many matches lately, I think all these emotions, we’ve already seen them. (Sunday) was just another game for us to replicate those emotions. I think we did really well, especially Axar, the way he finished off (the game), an outstanding knock.”

Iyer struck a crucial 63 and was involved in a fourth-wicket partnership of 99, in 15.4 overs, with Sanju Samson, after India were struggling at 79/3 in the 18th over.

Iyer said, “We lost back-to-back wickets (Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav). We had to rebuild. Sanju came in and he showed lots of intent. We really built on the partnership and we carried forward the momentum.”