Shai Hope: West Indies' lone shining star with the bat

As expected, India dominated the ODI series against the West Indies and enjoyed an upper hand over the hosts throughout the series, barring the hiccup at the final stages in the fourth ODI. For India, this five-match series rekindled Ajinkya Rahane’s ODI career and established Kuldeep Yadav as an aggressive option in the spin department. But there are hardly any gains for the home team.

In fact, this series has exposed some gaping holes in their ODI unit.

Except for Jason Holder, the bowling department never looked genuinely threatening while the batsmen had their own share of misery. Amidst these goring failures, the success of Shai Hope has emerged as the lone shining light for the West Indies during this ODI series.

In four innings Hope scored 181 runs at an impressive average of 45.25. He began the series with a brisk 81 in Port of Spain and finished with a compact 51 at Kingston. In the second and third ODI, he got off to a start but failed to make it count. He scored 24 and 25 runs in the third and fourth games respectively.

The right-hand batsman made two fifty-plus scores while his none his teammates scored even one. Also in terms of balls faced he was miles ahead of another Caribbean batsman. Hope faced 275 balls while Kyle Hope, the second on the list faced 148.

The key element in Hope’s batting was the way he constructed his innings. In the second ODI, while chasing 311 runs, the Windies were tottering at 4/2. But Hope tagged with Evin Lewis and repaired the damage. He was dismissed in the 26^th over but by then he had added 81 runs at a strike rate of 92.04.

In the third and fourth match, the Barbados batsman gave strong starts adding more than 50 runs. And in the last game, he tried to keep the innings on track and kept one end secured till the 42^nd over. From these performances, it is evident that the right-hand batsman has the hunger as well as the technique to bat for long periods and is gifted with a sound temperament.

In the last few years, the West Indies team has struggled to find reliable a batsmen in the top order. The absence of experienced players like Chris Gayle has further added to these woes. In such troubling times, Hope’s emergence should excite Holder and Co.

The right-hand batsman since his debut has become the essential cog in West Indies ODI unit and has often been the key run scorer. The below table reflects Hope’s vital contributions with the bat.

Leading run scorers for WI since Hope's debut

Name	Innings	Runs	Balls Faced	Avg	Strike Rate
S Hope	16	624	935	41.60	66.73
E Lewis	16	428	547	26.75	78.24
JN Mohammad	14	368	502	33.45	73.30
J Carter	13	312	422	26.00	73.93
J Holder	16	276	307	23.00	89.00

One key aspect which this table doesn’t indicate is the amount of time Hope spends at the crease. The Barbados batsman faces 58.43 balls per innings which is a huge number when taken into consideration the quality of other West Indies batsmen.

Testing time in Tests

Hope: Impressive in ODI’s but horrific in Tests

Strangely, the 23-year-old hasn’t been able to replicate his ODI success in Test cricket. After 19 innings he averages 19.57 and has only one half-century under his belt. The reason for this disparity can be the difference in the quality of bowling attacks he has faced in ODI cricket and Test matches.

Hope’s best knock in Tests came against Pakistan at Bridgetown earlier this year when he scored a gritty 90 in the third innings on a pitch that had virtually become a graveyard for the batsmen. What stood out in that innings was his rock-solid defence against Yasir Shah and his resolute approach.

That inning is indicative of his batting potential and if he receives backing from the team management he may carry his ODI form into the longest format of the game. In Tests too, the picture looks gloomy for West Indies batting department as apart from Karlos Braithwaite and Darren Bravo there are no serious contributors. Hence, investing in Hope is not a bad option for the moment.

Although the Barbados batsman is batting effectively in ODI cricket he still has some areas to work on. His strike rate of 66.73 is low for ODI cricket and hence he must focus in this regard. Currently, he scores 35.89% of his total runs in boundaries and hits a boundary every 18.7 balls. These numbers aren’t impressive and the West Indies batsman needs to find the fence more often to pump his strike rate.

The fact that so far he has played only in West Indies and Zimbabwe has also contributed to his low strike rate. The slow and dry pitches in these countries make scoring difficult and hence boundaries are difficult to come by. Playing on batting friendly wickets in future will certainly help Hope to improve his strike rate.

At the moment what he needs is confidence from the team management and support from other batsmen. But one thing is for sure, in Shai Hope, rests West Indies’ all batting hope for now.