Under the SKanner: Shai Hope
Over the past decade or so, the West Indies Test team has often struggled due to the absence of their best stars for one reason or the other and naturally, not many top class talents had emerged for some time. However, that has all changed in the recent years and one of the most promising players to have emerged for the team is their middle-order batsman Shai Hope. His technical excellence, temperament, defensive technique and stroke-play make him the ideal middle-order batsman for any Test side.
His performance against Pakistan and England last season saw him catapulted into the big time and become one of the world’s most promising batsmen. It was no surprise then that the 24-year-old was selected as one of the 5 Wisden Cricketer of the Year. He is a hugely talented player and perhaps it is time to put him under the SKanner.
#5 Technical proficiency
When a young batsman finds himself in the cauldron of international cricket, it is his technical excellence that helps him feel that he belongs at the top level and in case of Shai Hope, that has been the case ever since he made his debut back in 2015. He has the technical wherewithal to play any kind of bowling and what makes it so difficult to bowl to him when he is fine form is his ability to play strokes off the front foot as well as off the back foot.
The variation of lengths that bowlers often use can often look completely ineffective and it is this particular strength that has turned him into one of the most promising young batsmen in the world. On the other hand, his robust defensive technique is also one of the biggest factors behind his rise as a batsman and in the years to come, his supremely all-round technique will give him the arsenal to emerge as one of the best batsmen in the world.