Shai Hope Credits MS Dhoni After His Blazing Ton Powers West Indies To Historic Win Over England

West Indies captain Shai Hope led his team from the very front and scored a stunning century to power his team to a memorable win over England in the first ODI in Antigua. The hosts registered a four-wicket win to take the lead in the three-match series.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, England were bowled out for 325 runs on the final ball of their innings. Most of their top-order batters got the starts but failed to capitalise on them. Openers Phil Salt and Will Jacks scored 45 and 26 runs respectively while Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett scored 48 and 20 runs respectively.

Harry Brook top-scored for his side, scoring 71 off 72 balls with the help of 7 fours and a couple of sixes. Towards the end, Sam Curran (38) and Brydon Carse (31*) also came up with crucial cameos to help their team post a 300-plus total. For the home side, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie and Oshane Thomas picked up 2 wickets each.

Shai Hope credits MS Dhoni:

West Indies’ chances of winning the game looked all but over after they were reduced to 213 for 5 in the 38th over. With more than 100 runs remaining in less than 13 overs, West Indies were completely on the backfoot. However, Shai Hope and Shepherd revived their team’s hopes by sharing a quickfire partnership of 89 runs for the sixth wicket.

Shepherd was dismissed for 49 off 28 balls while Shai Hope remained till the end and scored an unbeaten 109 to help West Indies register their highest successful chase against England. In the 49th over, the right-handed batsman hit Sam Curran for three sixes to finish the game in style.

After the game, the West Indies captain surprised everyone by talking about MS Dhoni who is widely regarded as one of the best finishers in the history of the game. He revealed having a conversation with the former India skipper and stated that it helped him finish the game for his side.

“It [the century] was in a winning cause and that’s 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,” said Shai Hope.

“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. Nice to see the openers taking responsibility, they’re both great players. Its about seeing how we can continue to repeat these performances,” he added.