North Sound (Antigua): Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's advice to "take the game deep" inspired Shai Hope to lead his side to a thrilling victory against England in the opening ODI, the West Indies skipper revealed on Sunday.
MS Dhoni is known for his calm demeanor and match-winning abilities, as he always looks to take the chase deep when the target is massive. And after West Indies were reduced to 213/5 in pursuit of 326 here on Sunday, Hope, a wicketkeeper batter just like Dhoni, recalled a chat with one of the best finishers in the game.
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Captain fantastic! Shai Hope with his 1️⃣ 6️⃣ th ton taking the West Indies to a win!🏏 💥 #WIHomeforChristmas #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/f8vIAGTNtr
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) December 3, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Captain fantastic! Shai Hope with his 1️⃣ 6️⃣ th ton taking the West Indies to a win!🏏 💥 #WIHomeforChristmas #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/f8vIAGTNtr
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) December 3, 2023Captain fantastic! Shai Hope with his 1️⃣ 6️⃣ th ton taking the West Indies to a win!🏏 💥 #WIHomeforChristmas #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/f8vIAGTNtr
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) December 3, 2023
"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'," Hope said at the post-match presentation. "That's one thing that has stuck with me throughout the years I've been playing ODI cricket," Hope added.
West Indies faced the uphill task of scoring 106 in the last 10 overs. But alongside Romario Shephard (48; 28b), Hope smashed an unbeaten 109 off 83 balls, which included four hits to the fence and seven maximums, to eke out a memorable win here on Sunday.
The 30-year-old struck three sixes in four balls off Sam Curran in the penultimate over of the chase to give West Indies a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. In the process, he also recorded his 16th ODI and the fastest century of his career.
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