West Indies ODI captain Shai Hope credited a conversation he had with former India captain MS Dhoni after leading the Caribbeans to a thrilling four-wicket win over England in Antigua on Sunday with his fastest ODI tonne.
Hope’s undefeated 83-ball 109 included four boundaries and seven sixes. He reached his century in 82 balls, after hitting England pacer Sam Curran for a second six in the 49th over.
On the next delivery, he took Curran for another maximum, completing the chase of England’s 326-run total with seven balls to spare.
“A very, very famous person, MS Dhoni told me while we were having chat, ‘You always have a lot more time than you think,'” Hope stated this during the post-match press conference.
“That’s one thing that has stuck with me throughout the years I’ve been playing ODI cricket,” he said.
It was the West Indies’ highest-ever ODI run chase against England, surpassing the 286 at Lord’s in 2004, and their second-highest against any opponent, falling just five runs short of the 331/5 they achieved against Ireland at Malahide in 2019.
England was expecting to put their World Cup loss behind them, and when West Indies crumbled to 213-5 in the 38th over, they appeared to be in command.
But Hope, together with the explosive Romario Shepherd, turned the game on its head by putting up 89 runs in 51 balls for the sixth wicket.
Shepherd was ultimately out for 48 after hitting three sixes, but Hope was well and firmly in the groove by then.
Hope took over as full-time ODI captain of the West Indies early this year. He handled Zimbabwe’s failed bid for World Cup qualification.