West Indies opener Shai Hope returned to form in style in his 100th ODI with a century against India in the second ODI of the series. In doing so, Hope created a record in the One-day format. Hope became the first batter in half a century old ODI history to score a hundred in his 50th and 100th ODI.
The 28-year-old scored 170 in his 50th ODI against Ireland in 2019. He is one of the most consistent batters in the world since his ODI debut in 2016. He has scored 4,193 runs at an average of 49.33 including 13 centuries and 20 half-centuries. Only Virat Kohli and India’s all-format skipper Rohit Sharma have a better average and more runs than Hope.
Hope also became the 10th batter to score a century in his 100th ODI and fourth West Indies batter to do so. He anchored West Indies' innings and played few exquisite shots towards the off side. He shared a crucial 117-run partnership for the fourth wicket with skipper Nicholas Pooran.
He got to his century in style with a six in the 45th over. He stayed on the crease till the 49th over. He lost his wicket to Shardul Thakur. He scored 115 runs from 135 deliveries including eight fours and three sixes.
Earlier, Hope was struggling to get runs in the format of late. He had scored 52 runs from last six innings in ODIs. Hope also has the best average as an opener in ODIs (minimum 2,000 runs). He has an average of 64.02 compared to Rohit's 56.65 and Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq's 54.78.
This was Hope's third ODI century against West Indies. He equalled Marlon Samuels, Gordon Greenidge and Sir Viv Richards. The only West Indies batter with more ODI centuries is self-proclaimed 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle who has four centuries against India.
“Playing 100 games for West Indies and to score a hundred in my 100th ODI means a lot to me. My back was stiffening up a little and it was tough out there. It's a decent score on this pitch. It was about getting in, I have not got a start like this in a while, so wanted to capitalise on that and put some runs. It's not what it is, it's a good score and some balls are keeping low, the spinners will come into play,” Hope told broadcasters in the mid-innings break.
