West Indies captain Shai Hope was thrilled after the Men in Maroon fought their way back into the ongoing ODI series against India and leveled the series 1-1. The hosts registered a resounding six-wicket win against the Men in Blue on July 29 (Saturday) at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown in Barbados. Hope led from the front and played a match-winning knock of 63 not out as the Windies came storming back to shock India.
After the game, a confident Hope reiterated that his team will come hard at India in the final and decider ODI. Hope insisted in the importance of playing the game with the right attitude and repeating the right process again and again.
"Very satisfied to be honest, like I said in the previous game we want to come back and level the series and we have done it. We gotta win the next game to win the series. The guys are gonna come hard again. We keep speaking about attitude, whenever we are on the field we need to show it," Hope said in the post-match presentation.
"We need to keep repeating it more and more, to start with the new ball it was tough, the bowlers did their job and the batters did the job in the end. We need to replicate our plans and show some good attitude," the Windies captain concluded.
In a game in which India captain Rohit Sharma and maverick batter Virat Kohli were rested in order to hand other players a chance, the visitors shot themselves into the foot and fizzled out for just 181 runs while batting first. The abysmal show with the bat put India behind the eight ball and Men in Maroon capitalised on the momentum to seal a six-wicket win.
In the run chase, West Indies got off to an ideal start. Kyle Mayers did the bulk of scoring during the powerplay overs. In the ninth over, Thakur got India back to the game with twin strikes. First, Mayers got out for a 28-ball 36. Then Brandon King got out lbw after scoring 15 runs. Thakur got another wicket in the form of Alick Athanaze. Kuldeep was brought into the attack and Shimron Hetmyer got bowled for a single-digit score. With 91/4 after 17 overs, the game was delicately poised between the two teams.
Hope and Carty did not panic during the run chase. They were respectful against the left-arm chinaman bowler. The spinners posed a threat but the two Caribbean batters negated it with patience. They got over the line in the 37th over. Hope remained unbeaten for 63 off 80 balls including two fours and as many sixes. On the other end, Carty scored 48 runs from 65 balls including four fours.
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