India vs West Indies 2019 | Shai Hope in line for breaking Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's dominance
The first match of the India vs West Indies ODI series in Chennai was a perfect example of how to go about a run chase. The tourists, ranked ninth in the 50-over format, showed immense character against a top-notch bowling attack in hot and testing conditions to pull off an improbable victory by a comfortable margin of eight wickets with 13 balls to spare.
Rishabh Pant and Shreyash Iyer's gutsy partnership was the highlight of the Indian innings as India did well to put 287runs on the board after a mini-collapse that saw KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli get out early. Shimron Hetmyer finally did some justice to his talked-about potential in the limited-over format, playing a blistering 139-run knock in only 106 balls. His partner on the other hand, Shai Hope, deputy to Kieron Pollard in 50-over cricket, continued his purple patch. Hope went about his business smoothly, taking singles off good deliveries and dispatching the bad balls to the fence on his way to his fourth hundred of 2019.
Also see – BBL schedule
Looking at Shai Hope's batting exploits, consistency and maturity are two things he worked hard upon this year. 1225 runs in 24 innings at an average of 61.25 is something that was expected off Hope sooner or later in his career. Only Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have better numbers than the West Indian this year. Sharma averages 52.83 in 2019 with 1268 runs in 25 innings while Kohli leads the pack with 1292 runs in 23 innings at 61.52. Being counted in the league same as Kohli and Sharma is in itself a remarkable achievement, let alone surpassing them. With a hundred to his name in the first game, Hope will see this as an opportunity to get to the top of highest run-getters in 2019, lead currently by the prolific Indian duo.
Hope reigns supreme
Quite contrary to his team's performance, the decade-end year proved to be god-sent for
Hope as far as individual performances were concerned. After finishing as country's highest run-scorer in 2018- (875 runs in 18 innings), Hope scored the second-most runs for West Indies in the ICC Cricket World Cup with 274 runs in 9 innings. West Indies ended up winning only two games in nine matches at the World Cup and failed to live up to expectations with a squad filled with stroke makers. But Hope continued with his decent form even when the wickets were tumbling from the other end. It isn't easy to maintain composure and concentration when someone like a Chris Gayle or Andre Russell is going all guns blazing from 22-yard away. Amidst all the tracer-bullets being fired from the other end, Hope slowly cemented his place as the backbone of this team. His strike rate of 76.99 in 2019 is an apt reflection of the situations that Hope had to come in and bat. More often than not, Hope had to curb his aggressive style of play and replace it with much-needed calmness in the middle to help West Indies post a respectable total.
2019 will be looked back at how Hope came into his own. Just before the World Cup, Hope registered his highest ODI score of 170 runs against Ireland in Dublin. Hope and John Campbell had put on a record opening stand in ODIs, adding 365 runs. The innings displayed Hope's caliber as a natural stroke maker and a 360-degree player. The same kind of risk-free knock was re-played by Hope in Chennai as the Indian bowlers failed to get past his defense.
The coming two matches against India can determine if Hope can upset India's applecart and emerge as the best batsmen (in terms of runs scored) of 2019. And it will be quite a tale if he breaks the twin monopoly created by the Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the top for the past two years.