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T20 World Cup: West Indies captain Shai Hope faced a forgettable outing, scoring 32 off 33 deliveries, as India's Varun Chakravarthy rattled his stumps, and the skipper came forward to take the blame for his team's loss against India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 fixture in Kolkata.
The team's five-wicket defeat at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Sunday ended their T20 World Cup campaign, with India qualifying for the semi-finals.
Hope's post-match interaction turned temperamental when questioned about his slow innings, which left West Indies short of an ideal total. Initially, Hope acknowledged he could have revved sooner, but when pressed further, he responded sharply, saying, "Yes, I'll take the blame.”
“You all make me laugh, man. Yes, I'll take the blame if that's what you want me to say. I should have batted a lot faster. That's what you wanted me to say. But in situations like this, when you're struggling, everyone struggles. But like I said, I don't think I was batting badly. It's just that I was hitting the fielders and then trying to play the situation a bit more,” Hope said at the post-match press conference.
“Obviously, I wanted to bat a little bit deeper into the innings and face most of the spin threat in the middle. But I just didn't get going today. But yes, I'll take the blame. So that's what you want me to say,” he added.
Hope's opening partnership with Roston Chase, yielding 68 runs, had set a solid foundation, aligning with the West Indies' tournament strategy. Despite Hope's subpar batting, the team added 163 runs in the remaining 14.3 overs.
"So we actually had a platform setting. So as much as I personally would love to be a bit more fluent in the powerplay, you've still got to take things in stride. Today we were 45 in the powerplay for no loss,” Hope said.
"With the batting depth that we have, I don't see it as a big, big issue. But obviously, I was trying for a lot more. Those are the standards that we set as a team,” said the West Indies captain.