The opener has come under heavy criticism following his 33-ball 32 

West Indies captain Shai Hope admits his innings against India in Sunday’s Super Eight encounter at the ICC T20 World Cup might have been the difference between the two teams in his side’s 5-wicket loss. 

When asked if a more aggressive approach on his part could have resulted in the Caribbean side adding 15-20 runs to their first innings total of 195 for 4, the Barbadian replied, “Yes, that's my answer, yes.”

Hope hit three boundaries and a maximum before he was bowled by Varun Chakravarthy on 32 with the 33rd delivery that ended his innings. His wicket was the first to fall and left the West Indies 68 for 1 in the 9th over.

“It's one of those things; sometimes you just don't get the ball away,” Hope said. “As much as you’d love to come and hit every single ball for six, it doesn't happen.” 

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It's one of those things; sometimes you just don't get the ball away,” Hope said. “As much as you’d love to come and hit every single ball for six, it doesn't happen.” 

well said skipper, sometimes you just can’t

that’s good leadership, well done sir.

@CaribbeanCricket.com

"HOPE" he learns but he made a contradictory statement

Preferred/acceptable PP=60-70

But 45/0 was ok because we bat deep. Isn't the batting deep advantage why 60-70/2 better than 45/0? Had Sharma and or Yadav faced as many deliveries as Hope at their S/R India would've lost. WI hopefully learned what calculated risks in batting PP means.

When will Sammy speak... I mean take responsibility

16 dot balls in the first 5 overs! 195 /4 with the lowest score at 14 tells you, you are short of runs.

😀😀😀

Oh boy !!!

This was bound to happen. It was just a matter of time that this game plan would hurt us. We have a sacred policy of not utilizing the powerplay. The reason being we have deep fire power.

I can say unreservedly that the dumb ass coach is responsible for this strategy. This is the reason why Sammy has to go and the President of CWI has to go too because he supports mediocrity.

I am piss.

i saw this coming from a thousand miles away and the people being paid to do the job couldn't see it coming.

This is not rocket science...batting resources are not infinite.

The T20 game is to maximize your resources when batting and prevent your opponents from maximizing theirs.

@CaribbeanCricket.com

there is enough blame to go around. Offensively, we’d score around 225, which could have been more defendable, knowing our bowling ain’t top tier.

@Cricket_101

That was the score I wanted game day, losing only 4 wickets was an early indicator that we did not push to the maximum.

@Halliwell

I agree. After all the nitpicking, given a choice of 195 before the game. WI fans would’ve taken it.

@CricSham

I think the dew played a factor here.

@CricSham

before the game fans may agree with you, but during the game fans recognize that that score would not be enough.

@Courtesy

You really not making sense with what you are saying. Hope admitted to not scoring at a top s/r, one of those days, how is that the fault of the Coach. You just like Methodic are of the opinion that the goal in the PP is to score 80+ which is fraught with risks. All the teams have aimed for 60 with limited wicket loss. The one game we lost to south Africa we took your advice and stuttered to 81/7.

Again I maintain there is no need to take max risk. If Hope had scored his usual 130 s/r we would have had 220 easily. That was Hope's role, bat at 130 and he failed that is why he took the blame.

I just want to say that being a wicket keeper and captain is a heavy burden! Not ideal! Someone else needs to be appointed captain!

@voiceofreason

As usual you are either being economical with the truth or perhaps feeding perfidy with steroids.

Firstly, I have never advovated that an ideal PP score should be 80 plus....NEVER. Infac, when Methodic advocated this PP score in a post, I said it would be taking huge risks and countered with an alternative score of 60-65.

Secondly, if a coach sees that a batsman is not living up to the expectations of his strategic plan, why did he allow the batsmen to limp along to nearly half of the allotted overs (8.5). This is unpardonable considering that we have plenty, plenty, batting resources.

Further, Sammy has always shown his hand in the powerplay. If we lose 2 wickets early, he sends Chase early to snail along in an effort to stem the fall of wickets. This to my mind is ludicrous, counterproductive and testament to a sluggish mindset which sumply does not understand strategy and the maximum use of resources in T20 cricket

Any well drilled T20 team will never allow 20 overs to run out with the loss of only 4 wickets on a good batting pitch with a lightening fast outfield. The situation is further compounded by having an historically weak bowling attack. Imho, 225 on this ground was bare minimum. It proved a lack of preparedness, awareness and execution, all functions of a head coach.This is a serious derelection of duty by the coach.

Finally, a coach must make continuous assessments and must be agile enough to navigate his ship safely. Sammy is niether cerebral nor strategic in his approach to coaching.

He must go and take the President of CWI with him.

For all you who are struggling to understand what happened on Sunday and some are blaming Hope, and some are reflexively blaming Sammy, My friend, Dr. Terrence Blackman, Mathematician, did an analytical analysis of the game and a somewhat of a lookback of the data of T20 as it pertains to WI and other teams. Please have a read, it is very revealing and is front page worthy.

https://guyanabusinessjournal.com/2026/03/the-anatomy-of-a-t20i-world-cup-super-8-west-indies-vs-india-more-than-just-one-inning/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQTutpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETE1UTZhOW8wcDFuTzQxZGlQc3...

@Larr Pullo

My analysis, dew was a big factor.

Wow !!

This site locked me out in the process of developing a critique to the article. I don't have the appetite to work my brain again on the niity griity in my usual nuanced manner.

Suffice it say, that the writer has not said anything that could not be gleaned reading this MB over the years.

• Fundamentally, if you don't lay a solid foundation in T20 cricket, the middle order will take greater risks and hence the propensity to lose wickets
• "tactical execution" on the day is the resposnsibility of the coach.
• Structural reforms is within the purview of CWI.

I say no more except, after more than 30 years we have not moved forward one inch in West Indies cricket. We accept too much mediocrity.

I hope haven't been time locked out again.

.

@Courtesy

I believe you missed the point. What the article clearly points out, through the use of the available data, is that the WI is the poorest team when it comes to recovery after losing multiple wickets in the power play. Therefore, our best chance lay in taking a cautious approach during the power play with the hope and expectation that we could make up any deficiencies at the end of the innings. unfortunately we lost momentum during the middle over when we would usually be accelerating when Hety was cheated out, and we also lost Rutherford, two of out best young power hitters. Holder and Powell were forced to take a few balls to settle but when we got to the death, India was excellent and we were restricted to the 195.

@Courtesy

This site locked me out in the process of developing a critique to the article. I don't have the appetite to work my brain again on the niity griity in my usual nuanced manner.

Type your response in a text editor then log in and cut and paste it to the site.

@Courtesy

I am piss.

And Sammy is poop

@Larr Pullo

And i am saying while the data points to a massive lowering of our winning percentage when losing early wickets this argument can be countered by saying because we are too conservative in the pp it means we have to take greater risks later and therefore disrupts our strategy. The policy of conserving wickets imho is floored considering that making use of the pp is vital in the T20 game. You don't want to give up adavatange at any satege in a T20 match.

.

Harry Brooks now bats at number 3 whether wickets are lost early or not knowing that he needs to make use of the powerplay.

Now if the reason is because we lack the skillset in the opening positions and middle order to execute, then I will gladly concede.

The writer has analyze the consequence of a problem beautifully but not the real problem.

@Narper

I concur on both points.

😀

@Larr Pullo

Yep, that's an option I will have to take in the future for lengthy posts.

Cheers.

@Courtesy

...data points to a massive lowering of our winning percentage when losing early wickets this argument can be countered by saying because we are too conservative in the pp it means we have to take greater risks later and therefore disrupts our strategy.

Given the resources we have that is PRECISELY our strategy, there is no disruption. To take more risks in the middle overs because if we take the risk during the PP, and lose early wickets, it is almost impossible for us to recover to a winnable position.

@Larr Pullo

Then we are dealing with the consequence of a problem and not the problem itself. Coward batsmen should not be playing T20. The pp and the closing overs very often determine to outcome of T20.

The West Indies is the only team in the top 8 to implement this strange strategy. We have got to wean ourselves off this strategy. It will not put you in the top echelons of T20 cricket if you continue to paly that way.

It goes against the grain of T20.

Btw, there is an interesting correlation between the number of dot balls given up and a teams success rate. Perhaps the writer for the sake of completeness provide this perspective.

And this strategy has not made us world beaters either in T20 within recent times.

Before now, we never had to send in a Chase as night watchman in a T20 game.

Btw, "winnable position" must also be looked at in the broader perspective of a comparative analysis with top 8 teams.

It is an isolated set of data. We need to see the winning percentage against top teams when they haven't lost three wickets in the power play,

Yes, we are doing it against lower ranked teams. It improves our individual percentage against them but how does it (winning percentage) compare with the rest of the top 8?

West Indies winning percentage between 2011-2025 against top 6 teams is about 38.00 percent.and this is skewed by a 55 percent win against Afghanistan - the only top team we have a more than 50 percent win record.

How has this strategy improved your standing with top teams? Is it a case of improving your winning percent against the weaker teams thus making it look healthy in the golabal scheme of things because of your number of winning matches in this weaker cohort. It is highly skewed data.

It's like the proverbial saying that "your good is not enough."

But the writer defeats his argument because we did not lose wickets in the power play yet we were not clinical with our finish.

The game is really about having the team in a position at all stages where it can assess the level of risks it needs to take to achieve its goal.

The writer's position and perspective should have been much broader.

195 was a very good total in a must win game against a team that was not at all firing. Batting is not the issue. Spinners being unable to bowl with dew played a role. Look how many overs Motie and Hosein bowled. Wi was one wicket away which never came.india gifted wickets. But sanju didnt

@Courtesy

Secondly, if a coach sees that a batsman is not living up to the expectations of his strategic plan, why did he allow the batsmen to limp along to nearly half of the allotted overs (8.5). This is unpardonable considering that we have plenty, plenty, batting resources.

Are you suggesting that Sammy retire the Captain out in a Quarter final match. How great would that be for his morale. Imagine you and the Anti-Sammyites if that was done.

Further, Sammy has always shown his hand in the powerplay. If we lose 2 wickets early, he sends Chase early to snail along in an effort to stem the fall of wickets. This to my mind is ludicrous, counterproductive and testament to a sluggish mindset which sumply does not understand strategy and the maximum use of resources in T20 cricket

The reason why we would do that is exactly what you mentioned earlier it is fraught with risk continuing at a break neck pace. The worst thing can happen is losing 3-4 wicket s in the PP. So he is right for sending Chase to consolidate and not lose any more wickets!

Any well drilled T20 team will never allow 20 overs to run out with the loss of only 4 wickets on a good batting pitch with a lightening fast outfield. The situation is further compounded by having an historically weak bowling attack. Imho, 225 on this ground was bare minimum. It proved a lack of preparedness, awareness and execution, all functions of a head coach.This is a serious derelection of duty by the coach.

This by no means the finished team. To blame the coach for Hope being unable to hit 130 in the PP or Holder and Rovman unable to execute in the penultimate over is unfortunate. The team was in posiiton for a 220 score here is why 175 /4 after 18. Then came the penultimate over:

18.6

1

Arshdeep to Holder, 1 run

Nails the wide yorker. Holder can only drill it down to long-off. Excellent death bowling by Arshdeep Singh. 24 off his last over, just five off this one. Some comeback

18.5

2

Arshdeep to Holder, 2 runs

Low full toss angled across, driven along the ground through cover. They take two

18.4

•

Arshdeep to Holder, no run

Angles this across him again, Holder tries to hit it but gets an underedge to the keeper

18.4

1w

Arshdeep to Holder, 1 wide

Angles this across Holder, and that's not given wide. The umpire has a check and ends up calling it wide after a check with the third umpire

18.3

1

Arshdeep to Powell, 1 run

Abhishek drops one again! Powell flicks this off his toes and Abhishek runs in from deep midwicket, but shells it diving forward! That was a rather simple chance

18.2

•

Arshdeep to Powell, no run

Past a diving Samson! Slower ball angled across him. Powell shuffles across and swipes across the line, but it's wide of Samson at full stretch

18.1

1

Arshdeep to Holder, 1 run

Full and wide, he tries to take it on and skies it off the toe end. But it's too straight of long-off and he gets away with that slight mis-hit

Execution was the issue cause even with all that happened in the PP we had more than enough opportunity for a 220 total. Dereliction of duty my derriere.

You consistently criticize the bowling yet that same bowling got us here defending sub-par totals and almost won it for us just within 4 balls. I guess you will blame Sammy for not bowling out Forde, Motie or Hosein.

@voiceofreason

Bruh, quite frankly I hardly view your jibber jabber with any degree of seriousness. Your views are parochial. I will not waste any time.

@CaribbeanCricket.com

Shai Hope assumes responsibility for India loss, saying he'll ‘take the blame’

He's basically saying he's ok with being replaced as cappo in T20i, I presume......

Chase offset whatever hope missed

You lose only 4wkts if the pair in were "entrenched" early and going at great guns i.e. over 200sr. So you'd have ended up 245/4

@voiceofreason

VOR,

Absolutely everyone is entitled to their opinion but some of the views posted here are so irrational, it borders on lunacy.

WI lost this game by for a variety of small margins.

Captain Hope admitted his poor strike rate costed. Then there was the issue of the dodgy Hety dismissal.

In the back end we could have expended more wickets for a bigger total. Then Motie's drop catch and Holder's.

Sharma Joseph we know has little in his arsenal in the T20 format. His go to Yorkers many were bowled too straight and we paid dearly thru the onside.

For me it was thr multiplicity of the small things that caused us to lose this game

@InHindsight

Sharma Joseph, love it

look, all those instances you mentioned plus the bowlers just didn’t stick to the bowling plans as in previous games

We lost to a better team overall but correctly we feel that India was beatable. 195 should have been defendable but to a team batting second in a crunch match it wasnt and that was completely understandable. What can be changed is that we need to find an opener who can really take advantage of the power play. I am suggesting that Powell should consider moving up to opening position with Hope and slot in Forde into Powell's position as a late overs striker. Now that the WC is over, it is time to learn the lessons from it and rebuild. I think that we have the nucleus of a good team but are perhaps one good bowler short of being a really competitive team that can challenge the top 5 teams consistently.

@PalsofMine

Vor seh yuh figet dart India luck 'Zari sick...

@InHindsight

Sharma Joseph we know has little in his arsenal in the T20 format. His go to Yorkers many were bowled too straight and we paid dearly thru the onside.

I thought for a moment he'd have changed up a little with in-swingers or just good length down the middle....