New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) Former Indian cricketer Abhishek Nayar stated that India would need to get Shai Hope out as he has been tormenting the bowling attack and winning the West Indies matches almost single-handedly.
Hope has been in stellar form in the ongoing white-ball series against India, having hit four centuries in a span of three ODIs and four T20Is, often proving to be the difference between the two sides.
India have lost all three matches in which they failed to get Hope out in the entire ongoing white-ball series, and he has unbeaten centuries in all of them. With the series locked at 2-2 ahead of the final T20I on Saturday in Bengaluru, Nayar stated that the Men in Blue need to find a way to get him out and also suggested what they can try to remove him early.
“The West Indies have batted well, and in the previous match, they bowled well too. But you have to find a way to get Shai Hope out. You have to find a way to stop the West Indies from scoring runs in the powerplay, and that’s where the think tank comes together, plans, makes strategies, and puts all that together; then you can get the result you desire,” Nayar told JioStar.
Hope has 539 runs in seven white-ball innings with four centuries. His 261 runs in four T20Is are already the most by any visiting batter in a bilateral series in India, which reflects how dominant he has been throughout the tour. “After a long time, such a player has come to India, scoring runs, captaining, wicket-keeping as well, and consistently scoring runs with the bat. When he scores runs, the team wins, and that is the hallmark of a terrific and great player who scores runs and makes sure the team wins. He is using his craft and finesse as well as power, and that is one thing that Shai Hope has done brilliantly,” Nayar hailed Hope.
He also suggested that India should try to vary their line and lengths against Hope, who has found stump-line balls home for him. “When you are bowling at the stumps, it’s been very easy for him to score runs, which means sometimes inconsistency is the best consistency to have against Shai Hope.
“That is something India will have to think about and come up with a plan as to how they are going to make sure that he starts playing more behind square and how they start using the short ball more against him,” he added.
–IANS
vm/vi
