West Indies captain Shai Hope has credited his chat with MS Dhoni after completing a stunning run-chase against England in the 1st ODI on Sunday at the Sir Vivian Richards International Stadium in Antigua. The right-handed batter revealed that the advice given by the former Indian captain of having plenty of time in ODIs than one might think stuck with him throughout.
Hope smashed an unbeaten 109 off 83 deliveries to pull off a daunting run-chase of 326 in the 49th over of the innings, with 7 deliveries to spare. The Barbadian smashed 3 sixes in the 49th over and reached the magical three-figure mark with the 2nd one. It also proved to be the highest successful run-chase at this venue.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Hope felt relieved that the ton resulted in a losing cause and lauded Romario Shepherd for his cameo, but felt they can still improve on a lot of things.
"It [the century] was in a winning cause and thats all I play for. Happy that we won. I had a chat with MS Dhoni some time back and he told me that you always have a lot more time at the crease than you think and that stuck with me. Shepherd was amazing. We got the win, started the series on a high and the aim is to repeat it next game. Their openers played really well, we need to try to start a bit better in the next game. We also had a few dropped catches, if you want to be the best team in the world, you also have to start playing like the best team in the world."
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England continue to struggle as Shai Hope's counterpart fails to fire:
Meanwhile, Hope's counterpart Jos Buttler couldn't make much of a difference, managing only 3 off 13 deliveries, continuing his poor performance from the 2023 World Cup. England's total of 326 was set up by Harry Brook's 71, followed by lower-order contributions from Sam Curran and Brydon Carse.
However, Curran was far from impressive with the ball, conceding an eye-watering 98 runs in his 9.5 wicketless overs. The 2nd ODI is on 6th December, Wednesday in Antigua.
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