New Delhi: West Indies captain Shay Hope His team did not hide behind excuses after their defeat to defending champions India at the Eden Gardens. Instead, he stepped up and took responsibility.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!India chased a challenging 196-run target to knock out the former champions in a must-win Super Eight match on Sunday. But Hope admitted the total could have been even more impressive had he accelerated at the top of the hill.“Yeah, I’ll take responsibility. I should have hit the ball faster, if you want me to say that,” Hope said candidly during the post-match media interaction. “When you’re ahead, you want to get your hands up and set the tone. That didn’t happen for me today. I just didn’t start.”
Hope hit 32 of 33 goals – including 17 penalties – to stymie the momentum of a high-scoring game. While he insisted he wasn’t a bad batsman, he admitted the pace was hurting the team.“In situations like this, when you’re in trouble, everyone’s in trouble. But I don’t think I hit the ball poorly,” he explained. “I hit a couple of fielders and they all bowled well. As much as you’d like to hit every ball for six, that’s not going to happen.”West Indies held on for 45 runs in the powerplay with a target of 65-70. “We had a platform. With the depth we had at bat, I didn’t think it was a big issue at the time, but we didn’t execute to the level we wanted to,” Hope admitted.Despite late acceleration Roston Chase, Roffman Powell and Jason Holder Taking them up to 195/4, a total of 20 runs proved deficient on the dewy surface.“The chase is usually better here at Eden, especially with the dew. That always becomes a factor,” Hope said, while also bemoaning his poor performance at the toss. “I didn’t think I could win a toss…that always puts me at a disadvantage.”Hope called it a “slim game” and “one team has to win.”He reserved special praise for Team India’s winners Sanzhou Samsonwhose unbeaten 97 sealed the victory. “He shot the ball really well from the beginning to the end…very smart and well thought out. You have to give him an A+. But we hope he doesn’t have that inning today.”Even in defeat, Hope still chose the right perspective. “There were a lot of positives. Our bowling was much better…the power bowling in particular held up.”
