Shai Hope scores freely without reckless hitting, says Chanderpaul

Shivnarine Chanderpaul praised Shai Hope’s maturity and orthodox strokeplay ahead of India’s fifth T20I decider, saying the West Indies captain scores freely without reckless hitting. He credited Guyana’s spin-friendly pitches with helping Hope develop and stressed the team’s match-winning depth

New Delhi: West Indies skipper Shai Hope’s recent run of big scores in the ongoing white-ball series against India has come without him sacrificing the orthodox method that defines his batting, legendary batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul said on Saturday.

Chanderpaul, who is currently playing and coaching the West Indies Champions in the World Championship of Legends, described Hope as a more mature and confident player who finds the gaps rather than swinging wildly. Hope has been in stellar form, scoring four centuries across three ODIs and four T20Is against India.

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With the T20I series locked at 2-2 ahead of Saturday’s decider in Bengaluru, dismissing Hope early will be critical for India.

“Look, his all-round cricket has developed. You can see he is scoring much more freely. He is more confident now. He can go out and express himself early on.

“Yes, he is not going to go out there like a crazy guy and throw his bat away. He plays proper cricket shots and hits proper boundaries. He hits them in the good areas. What I mean by proper cricket shots is that he just doesn’t go out there and swipe — he hits it well.

“He hits it into the gaps and finds his boundaries. Whenever it is pitched up and he can hit it over the top, he hits it over the fielders. But he has developed over the years. He is much more mature now. He is more confident about going out and playing his game,” Chanderpaul told IANS during a virtual interaction facilitated by Cricketaaa on Saturday.

According to Chanderpaul, much of Hope’s evolution as a batter, especially in the shortest format, was shaped by honing his skills on the slow, spin-friendly pitches of Providence Stadium, where he played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League.

“Look, Shai Hope has played a lot of cricket in Guyana. He played for Guyana Amazon Warriors. He has learned how to bat on those wickets. If anybody could score runs in Providence, Guyana, they could score runs anywhere. He learned how to play spinners there, how to score and bat really, really well, mostly against any bowlers, right? Because if you can score runs in Guyana, you can score runs anywhere.

“He developed his cricket really well. There are a few other guys who came from Guyana — Hetmyer, Rutherford, Shepherd, Motie and Shamar Joseph. All of them are from Guyana, right? So, these guys know how to play on those sorts of wickets. The pacer will bowl one over, and then the spinner will take over. So, you learn to bat against spin on those sorts of wickets.”

Even as he praised Hope, Chanderpaul stressed that the West Indies could not afford to rely on one or two players. He pointed to the depth of match-winners in the current side.

“But the West Indies team also have other players. You have Rovman Powell and all the other guys who are in the team right now, who are also match-winners. At any given point, these guys can win you matches.

“As much as you call on two names — those who are performing now — yes, Shai Hope is doing well and helping his team get over the line, which is really good. But you have other guys in the team who are also match-winners. So, we can’t overlook those guys either. They are there, they will contribute, and they can win matches by themselves at any time.”

On the spread of franchise T20 leagues around the world and the uncertain future of the all-format cricketer, Chanderpaul said the leagues had become a valuable platform for identifying talent.

“It’s good that we have T20 formats all around the world because this is how you get a chance to see all the cricketers.

“In the past, we didn’t need our country to put us out there. Now we have so many different leagues opening in every part of the world. So, now you get a chance to see more players. Players are still active, playing cricket, and that’s what you want to see.

“You want them out there, being active and playing cricket, and then you can pick players to play for your country. If you think they are good enough to play and represent their country, yes, definitely, you will get a chance to pick them.

“But if you don’t have all these leagues out there, then it’s difficult to see all these players. Everybody around the world is watching cricket, and there are a lot of teams keeping an eye on talented players they can recruit. These leagues are also helping to make that happen,” he said.

Chanderpaul, who played in the early seasons of the IPL and in three T20 World Cups, said the format had changed beyond recognition since the days when teams had little data to work with.

“Look, T20 cricket has definitely come a long way since I first started in the IPL. At that time, we were just trying to figure out what would be a normal score, what could be a par score or a winning score. We were trying to work things out here and there. There weren’t many statistics to tell you what a par score was on a particular ground.

“Yes, I played three T20 World Cups. But there weren’t many statistics to tell you what would be a winning score on whichever ground you played on. Now there is a lot of information out there, and players are developing far more shots than we played back then. They have been successful doing so.

“Scores have gone from 150 being a winning score to 250 sometimes. Teams still try to chase down those big scores. So, it shows how far the game has come for batters. T20 cricket is all about playing shots and making big scores. Players have really been doing well in this format. It has changed a lot, and it is really exciting for fans and everyone watching.”

In Sharjah, Chanderpaul produced a vintage batting display, scoring an unbeaten 41 off 27 balls, including three sixes, to help West Indies Champions beat Australia Champions in the semi-final of the World Championship of Legends. They will face England in the final on Sunday.

Chanderpaul, who has been doubling up as a player and coach, said he had not planned on batting but stepped in because injuries had left the side short of options.

“I came in, and we didn’t have much batting. A few guys were injured, so we ended up playing the remaining guys on the bench. I made up the numbers, and I didn’t expect much from myself out there. But I am thankful that I was able to give the team what it needed at that point in a crucial game like this one.”

West Indies Champions franchise owner Ajay Sethi said the team’s progress over three seasons reflected the hunger of its veteran players. He compared Chanderpaul’s strokeplay against Australia to that of a young Sachin Tendulkar.

“In Season 1, we reached the semi-finals and lost to Pakistan. In Season 2 and now Season 3, we are in the finals. I think that is very good progress for our team of legends. The kind of hook shots and cricketing shots he played made it look like we were watching Sachin Tendulkar in his youth. This sends a big message to legends aged over 50. It motivates them and shows that they can still play, hit sixes, score good runs and help their team win.”