T20 World Cup: Someone has to stick in and play along, says Hope after blistering 82* vs USA

Bridgetown (Antigua), June 22 (IANS) West Indies opener Shai Hope made the most of the opportunity after replacing Charles Johnson in the playing 11 as he smashed an unbeaten 82 off 30 balls to guide the side to an emphatic nine-wicket win against the USA in the T20 World Cup Super Eight clash on Saturday (as per IST).

Hope silenced his critics with his thundering knock studded with eight sixes and four fours as West Indies chased 130 in 10.5 overs. Commenting on his innings, Hope said he stuck to his plans and played according to the situation.

"To be honest, it's just the situation, man. It's whatever is required. There's some games where the conditions may be challenging and you have to fight. You can't just go out there and try to smash every ball for six or four. Someone has to stick in and play along. I don't think people realise that," Hope said in the post-match press conference.

The opener added that he knew that net run rate would come into play to support the team in the semi-final berth and his blistering strike rate was a reflection of that.

"We understood what's at stake here. We know that in this situation run-rate could play a part. So, 105 strike-rate wasn't going to be the play today. So again, just playing the situation. That's the one thing that I pride myself on as a batsman, as a cricketer," he said.

West Indies lost their opening Super Eight match against defending champions England and they needed to win with a big margin against the USA to remain in contention for semis.

When asked if they made any calculations for the chase, Hope replied, "Not entirely. We didn't want to get too far ahead of ourselves because sometimes that can play on the negative side.

"So yes, we understood the importance of getting the game finished quickly, but we didn't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. The aim was to play the powerplay as normal as we could, put away the bad balls, put the guys on the pressure at the start of the over, stuff like that, and then we assessed after the powerplay and then decided that we wanted to finish by a certain stage," he added.

With two points in as many matches, the Windies and England sit at second and third spots respectively and are very much alive in the tournament.

West Indies will next take on table toppers South Africa at North Sound in Antigua on Monday, June 24 while England will play against last-placed USA in Bridgetown on Sunday.

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