Shai Hope credits MS Dhoni’s inspirational words after thrilling win over England

Shai-Hope. (Photo by Ashley Allen/Getty Images)

After a thrilling win over England in the first ODI in Antigua, West Indies skipper Shai Hope stated that MS Dhoni’s inspirational words helped him to do well in this format. Notably, the 30-year-old finished it off in style with three sixes in four deliveries off Sam Curran as his 109* runs off 83 balls helped West Indies chase down a mammoth total of 326 runs.

In the post-match presentation, when Hope was asked about his batting display, the cricketer gave credit to Dhoni and revealed how the legendary cricketer motivated him to excel.

“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’. That’s one thing that has stuck with me throughout the years I’ve been playing ODI cricket,” Hope said at the post-match presentation.

Speaking about his three sixes off Curran, Hope revealed that given the wind factor and field dynamics of Antigua, he felt that it was best to go for the win in the penultimate over, rather than in the last over, when it could have been a challenge, as the surface on the other end wasn’t easy to bat on.

“The dimensions of the field and then the wind factor there, I thought the best thing to do was to target that particular over. We knew it was a challenge to score from the other end, especially going against the breeze… regardless of what happened, I was going to try and take down that second-to-last over to give us the best chance of winning the game.

“After the second six, I knew we pretty much had the game in the balance. If we had that over to finish the game, I always try to finish the game with one over to spare if I can. I don’t want to leave it to anyone else, so the aim was to finish off at the back end,” Hope was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Meanwhile, England’s poor form continued in the first ODI. After a dismal performance in the ODI World Cup, the Three Lions changed their set-up and introduced a lot of fresh faces but the team couldn’t live up to the potential in the first ODI. Skipper Jos Buttler’s form too is a matter of concern.