West Indies captain Shai Hope blamed himself for the team's T20 World Cup 2026 defeat against India in their must-win clash for a semifinal berth at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Hope said he should have batted faster at the top to post a more challenging target for the defending champions.
Hope on West Indies' defeat
Sanju Samson reigned supreme in Kolkata as India chased down a mammoth 196-run target to knock the former winners out of the tournament. The visitors appeared at least 20 runs short as Hope ate up 33 balls for his 32, striking at just over 96, including 17 dot balls that probably cost them heavily in a high-scoring contest.
"Yes, I'll take the blame. I should have batted a lot faster -- if that's what you want me to say," said Hope in the post-match media interaction without dodging any tough question.
"When you're leading, you want to put your hand up and set the tone at the top. It didn't happen for me today. I just didn't get going today," he conceded.
"But in situations like this, when you're struggling, everyone struggles. But I don't think I was batting badly."
India's bowling plans against West Indies
India seemed to have their plans spot on after Suryakumar Yadav chose to bowl first. He started with Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel during the powerplay, and the trio kept things tight. They didn’t allow Shai Hope to settle in the early overs and built steady pressure.
Later, Varun Chakravarthy was brought into the attack at just the right time. The mystery spinner, saved for the middle overs, struck with a ball that hurried through and knocked Hope’s stumps over.
Roston Chase then picked up the pace, and Rovman Powell along with Jason Holder added some late runs to push West Indies to 195 for 4. Still, on a good batting pitch at Eden Gardens, especially with dew expected to help the team chasing, the total didn’t look quite enough.