‘It was tough out there’ - Shai Hope on scoring a century with back injury

West Indies batter Shai Hope, on Sunday, smashed a 115-run knock off 135 balls including eight fours and three sixes, and became the 10th batter to score a ton in his 100th ODI. With this, he also became the fourth West Indies batter to reach the milestone after Gordon Greenidge, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

On the back of his knock, the hosts put up a decent total of 311 runs for six in their allotted 50 overs after electing to bat first.

However, Shai Hope got out in the penultimate over while trying to hit Shardul Thakur for a boundary. After playing the stunning knock, Hope said that he didn’t find it easy to bat out there since he was having problems with his back.

“Playing 100 games for West Indies and to score a hundred in my 100th ODI means a lot to me. My back was stiffening up a little and it was tough out there,” Hope was quoted as saying in the mid-innings break of the match.

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Shai Hope happy to convert his start into a big score

Shai Hope also said that he was desperate to convert his start into a good total and get a substantial score under his belt. The batter also stated that the pitch showed signs of indifferent bounce too.

“It's a decent score on this pitch. It was about getting in, I have not got a start like this in a while, so wanted to capitalise on that and put some runs. It's not what it is, it's a good score and some balls are keeping low, the spinners will come into play,” he further added.

Meanwhile, as far as the game is concerned, India registered a vital win on the back of a 63 from Shreyas Iyer, 54 from Sanju Samson and a quickfire 35-ball 64* from Axar Patel. 

Axar Patel, who won the Player of the Match award for his stunning knock, said: “I think this is a special one. It came at a crucial time and also helped the team to win the series. We have done the same in the IPL. We just needed to remain calm and keep the intensity up. I was playing an ODI after close to 5 years. I would want to continue performing like this for my team.”