PERFORMER OF THE DAY: HURRICANE HOPE
West Indies opener Shai Hope continued his fantastic run from the ODI series to the first of a three-match T20I series against hosts Bangladesh to help the visitors win the encounter comprehensively by eight wickets yesterday. After striking consecutive hundreds in the ODIs, the right-hander smashed the third fastest T20I fifty ever off 16 deliveries, just behind Yuvraj Singh (12 balls) and Colin Munro (14 balls). Hope struck three fours and six sixes yesterday, five of which came against Mehedi Hasan Miraz who conceded 23 runs in the second over of the innings.
West Indies proved yesterday just why they are a feared side in T20I cricket. They are not the best T20I side in the world by any means, as their ranking of seventh shows, but on their day the World Twenty20 champions are unstoppable.
Yesterday at the Sylhet International Stadium was one such day and what came through both in left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell's four wickets for 28 runs and Shai Hope's 16-ball 50 was the clarity of thought and the unadulterated aggression they employ in the narrow scope of the game's shortest format.
The game was played on a fast wicket that suited their fast bowlers and hard-hitting batsmen, but it is instructive that player-of-the-match Cottrell implied that he barely noticed the wicket.
"I won't say happy," he replied when asked whether they were happier with this kind of wicket after they lost the Test and ODI series on slow and low surfaces. "I don't know if it was slow or fast or bouncy or whatever. We just played cricket on the day. We decided to just come out and play hard cricket. Whatever we do we do it hard. That's just it."
West Indies proved yesterday just why they are a feared side in T20I cricket. They are not the best T20I side in the world by any means, as their ranking of seventh shows, but on their day the World Twenty20 champions are unstoppable.
Yesterday at the Sylhet International Stadium was one such day and what came through both in left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell's four wickets for 28 runs and Shai Hope's 16-ball 50 was the clarity of thought and the unadulterated aggression they employ in the narrow scope of the game's shortest format.
The game was played on a fast wicket that suited their fast bowlers and hard-hitting batsmen, but it is instructive that player-of-the-match Cottrell implied that he barely noticed the wicket.
"I won't say happy," he replied when asked whether they were happier with this kind of wicket after they lost the Test and ODI series on slow and low surfaces. "I don't know if it was slow or fast or bouncy or whatever. We just played cricket on the day. We decided to just come out and play hard cricket. Whatever we do we do it hard. That's just it."
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