[Watch] “You always have a lot more time than you think” - Shai Hope recalls chat with MS Dhoni after match-winning knock

West Indies captain Shai Hope recalled an interaction he had with Indian legend MS Dhoni after the Windies beat England by four wickets in the first ODI in North Sound on Sunday, December 3. Hope revealed that Dhoni’s advice to him was ‘You always have a lot more time than you think’.

Hope scored a brilliant 109* off 83 balls as West Indies chased down a target of 326 in 48.5 overs to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. The 30-year-old struck three sixes in four balls off Sam Curran to lift the hosts to a memorable win.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, the keeper-batter revisited an advice from Dhoni that has stayed with him.

"A very, very famous person, MS Dhoni - we had a chat a while ago, and he was saying, 'You always have a lot more time than you think’. That's one thing that has stuck with me throughout the years I've been playing ODI cricket,” the Windies skipper commented.

Speaking to Cricket West Indies’ in-house channels, he added that looking at the dimensions of the field the wind factor, he felt targeting Curran’s over was the best thing to do.

“We knew it was a challenge to score from the other end, especially going against the breeze… regardless of what happened, I was going to try and take down that second-to-last over to give us the best chance of winning the game,” Hope said.

"After the second [six of the 49th over], I knew we pretty much had the game in the balance. If we had that over to finish the game, I always try to finish the game with one over to spare if I can. I don't want to leave it to anyone else, so the aim was to finish off at the back end," he added.

Hope hammered four fours and seven sixes in his innings, bringing up his 16th hundred in the one-day format.

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"He's one of those guys you can depend on" - Hope on Romario Shepherd

Chasing a challenging target, West Indies got off to an impressive start as Alick Athanaze (66 off 65) and Brandon King (35 off 44) added 104 for the first wicket. Romario Shepherd then smashed 48 off 28 balls, adding 89 runs for the sixth wicket with Hope.

"He was amazing. He's one of those guys you can depend on and he's continued to show his worth at this level. We're starting the series on a high and the aim is to repeat this in the second game,” the Windies skipper said in praise of Shepherd.

The second ODI of the West Indies-England series will be played in Antigua on Wednesday, December 6.