Hope: WI must regroup, and get ready for India

AHMEDABAD, India:

With a must-win game looming against defending champions India on Sunday, West Indies captain Shai Hope admitted that they must execute better to enhance their chances of advancing to the semifinals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

The Windies went into their match against South Africa yesterday, knowing that victory would have almost certainly booked a spot in the final four. However, they failed to fire with either bat or ball and were comprehensively beaten by nine wickets.

RECORD PARTNERSHIP

Lungi Ngidi and captain Aiden Markram starred with ball and bat, respectively, to propel South Africa, who had reduced West Indies to 83 for seven, before a record eighth-wicket partnership of 89 between Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd helped them get up to 176 for eight in their 20 overs.

Holder made 49 off 31 balls with four fours and three sixes before being run out off the penultimate ball of the innings, while Shepherd scored his maiden T20I half century, hitting an unbeaten 52 off 37 balls with four sixes and three fours.

For South Africa, Ngidi took 3-30, Rabada 2-22 and Bosch 2-31.

Markram then continued his impressive run of form in the competition by blasting an unbeaten 82 off 46 balls with seven fours and four sixes, and along with Quinton de Kock, who scored 47 off 24 balls and Ryan Rickelton. who finished on 45 not out, saw the Proteas coast to 177 for one in 16.1 overs.

With India's 72-run victory over Zimbabwe in the late game, it means the Proteas have advanced, with the winner between West Indies and India set to join them in the semifinals.

A CHALLENGE

"I wouldn't say it's a difficult road; I would say this is how it's supposed to be, because when you come into crunch time in a tournament every opposition or every game you play now is supposed to be a challenge," said Hope.

"This is the reason it's the Super Eights and then if you get to the semis and the finals there is a reason why, because they are the best teams in the latter stages of the tournament... we have to ensure that we play our better cricket now. We see a situation that we could face in the next couple of days, so we have to make sure we turn things around quickly and get a good result against India."

In assessing the team's performance against South Africa, Hope conceded that the team's eventual total was well short of being competitive.

"Sometimes when you don't adapt and assess as quickly as you would like, then you find yourself playing catch up and in this situation I felt like it was a very good surface..." Hope said.

"I felt as though we were 40, 50, even 60 runs short the way how the pitch was playing. Maybe we didn't assess as good as we could have and then the wickets in the power play would always push us back."

However, Hope defended the West Indies' top order, with several batsmen losing their wickets going for big shots.

- CMC