Shai Hope was acclaimed as an all-time great of the white-ball formats following his heroic, record-breaking T20 century in India yesterday.
Sir Vivian Richards, rated among the best batsmen in history, applauded Hope’s phenomenal performances in India as the West Indies captain made 102 not out off just 50 balls with nine sixes to help his team to victory by 24 runs in the fourth T20 International. It brought the capacity crowd of over 40 000 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in the city of Hyderabad to its feet as they applauded his phenomenal display of batsmanship.
Speaking to the DAILY NATION from Antigua, Sir Viv, the former West Indies captain, known as the “Master Blaster” in his playing days, said the 32-year-old Hope should definitely be ranked among the best.
‘Delighted’
“As a West Indian, I am delighted we have someone who is among the best, if not the very best at the moment.”
This was the second win for the West Indies and they are now level 2-2 with India with one match left. A victory in the final contest on Saturday night in Bangalore would create history as it would be the Windies’ first bilateral series win over India in India.
Sir Viv added: “These are truly magnificent batting performances from Shai Hope. Not just that he is making runs, but the way he is playing and the way he is dominating the bowling. What makes it even more special is that we are winning against a strong India team on their turf. We are battling hard and fighting hard, and we have won against the No 1 team in the world. When you have a batter like Hope, your captain who keeps getting hundreds, as a West Indian I am proud of his performances.”
Hope, speaking after yesterday’s win, joked that he will be returning home with excess luggage as he has collected several Man Of The Match awards. He noted that his singular focus was winning the match and now the series.
“Again, we played a good cricket game, we were good in all phases and now we have given ourselves a very good chance to win the series in Bangalore. I am pleased with this performance and happy with these kinds of performances. I’m not concentrating on accolades, I want to see us win,” he said.
“The surface was holding more than we thought. Initially, we thought the pitch would come on better. It was a bit twopaced to start and spinners got the ball to grip a bit at the back-end, so it was more difficult to hit at the back-end.”
Ian Bishop, the former West Indies fast bowler and globally respected television analyst, took to social media to laud the performance. He posted on X: “Terrific win by West Indies to level the series at two-all with one to go. The series of ‘HOPE’ continues.”
Hours after his heroics, Hope took to Instagram to post a series of photos of his batting and other team-mates celebrating with the attached the caption: “2-2. All to play for in Bangalore”, to his 275 000 followers. Less than two hours later, it had close to 20 000 likes.
In this series his posts have been closely followed globally. His last post featured the caption “250? Cool” when West Indies chased down a record 250 runs to win the second T20I, and received 606 000 likes.
Hope led the West Indies to 247 for three wickets, which was the second-highest score in T20Is against India, ten short of England’s 257 for three earlier this year. In reply, India finished on 223 in 19.3 overs. Keemo Paul picked up five wickets for 41, establishing a new record as the first West Indian bowler to take two five-wickets hauls in this format.
It was Hope’s third century in the shortest format and established a new landmark for the most by a West Indian – surpassing the previous two by legend Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis.
It was Hope’s fourth century of the current tour of India – a record for any visiting batsman. He made 104 in the second ODI as part of a record score of 405 for seven. He then followed up with a monumental 162 not out in the third ODI which West Indies won. Last week, he made 102 not out off 45 balls in the second T20I.