West Indies captain Shai Hope snapped back at a reporter following his team’s defeat to India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, March 1 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. India beat the West Indies cricket team by five wickets in the final Super 8 clash of the tournament to qualify for the semi-finals. It was a forgettable outing for the West Indies skipper, who struggled with the bat, scoring 32 off 33 deliveries before his stumps were rattled by Varun Chakravarthy.
Following his laboured knock, Hope was asked about the tempo of his innings and whether he took responsibility for his side falling short of what was considered an ideal total on the surface. The West Indies captain initially admitted that he could have accelerated sooner, but when pressed again on the same issue, he responded sharply and said he would take the blame.
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“You all make me laugh, man. Yes, I’ll take the blame if that’s what you want me to say. I should have batted a lot faster. That’s what you wanted me to say. But in situations like this, when you’re struggling, everyone struggles. But like I said, I don’t think I was batting badly. It’s just that I was hitting the fielders and then trying to play the situation a bit more. Obviously, I wanted to bat a little bit deeper into the innings and face most of the spin threat in the middle. But I just didn’t get going today. But yes, I’ll take the blame. So that’s what you want me to say,” Hope said at the post-match press conference.
India qualify for semi final
Hope began his innings cautiously, scoring just two runs from his first eight balls before striking Hardik Pandya for a six followed by a boundary to get himself going. However, he struggled to rotate the strike against the spinners and was eventually bowled by Chakravarthy.
Hope added 68 runs from 53 balls for the first wicket with Roston Chase (40 off 25). West Indies eventually posted 195/4 in their allotted 20 overs. However, the total proved insufficient as Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 97 off 50 balls helped India chase down the daunting target in 19.2 overs and book their place in the semi-finals.
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