The 25-year-old Windies wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope is one of the most consistent batsmen in present ODI cricket. Windies captain Jason Holder believes that Shai Hope has the potential to become one of their greatest ODI players ever.
The wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope recently becomes the fastest Windies batsman to score 2,000 ODI runs. Breaking the previous record of Sir Viv Richards, who completed this feat in 48 ODI innings, Hope recently achieved this feat in 47 ODI innings.
After 47 ODI innings, Hope has scored 2,056 runs with an impressive average of 50.14. The right-handed batsman has already scored six centuries and eight half-centuries in ODI career.
Recently, Hope had a record opening partnership in ODI cricket history along with another opener John Campbell. They had a 365-run partnership for the opening wicket against Ireland, which is also the second highest ODI partnership for any wicket. While Campbell scored 179 runs, Hope played his best international innings or 170 runs off 152 balls.
In the next match against Bangladesh, Hope hit another century (109 runs) which was his second consecutive ODI century. Also, it was the third successive ODI century for Hope against Bangladesh.
Since 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, Hope is the fourth-most run-scorer in ODI cricket. During this period, the right-handed batsman has scored 1,613 runs in 35 ODI innings with an average of 53.76.
Top five most ODI run-scorers since 2017 ICC Champions Trophy (updated till 10th May 2019)
| Player (Team) | Matches (Innings) | Runs scored | Highest score | Average | Strike-rate | 100s/50s |
| Virat Kohli (India) | 43 (43) | 2,830 | 160* | 83.23 | 98.98 | 14/7 |
| Rohit Sharma (India) | 48 (48) | 2,575 | 208* | 62.80 | 96.08 | 11/10 |
| Shikhar Dhawan (India) | 47 (47) | 1,927 | 143 | 44.81 | 99.22 | 6/8 |
| Shai Hope (Windies) | 38 (35) | 1,613 | 170 | 53.76 | 77.58 | 5/7 |
| Ross Taylor (New Zealand) | 28 (27) | 1,540 | 181* | 81.05 | 89.53 | 3/10 |
Shai Hope has been our most consistent player over the last two years – Jason Holder
Windies captain Jason Holder has recently lauded Shai Hope for his impressive consistent batting performances. Holder believes that this remarkable run can lead Hope to become one of the best ODI players in Caribbean cricket history.
Holder recently told according to icc-cricket.com, “Shai has been our most consistent player over the last two years. He’s the quickest West Indian to 2000 runs, which is a really phenomenal feat. I saw the list of guys on the TV and it’s really good to have him in that company, and if he continues in that vein, he could be arguably one of our best ODI players to ever play.
“Performances like that is something we’re definitely looking for. John [Campbell] got a hundred in the first game, [but] unfortunately, wasn’t fit enough to play the second. But hopefully, we can get him back on the park and firing on all cylinders once more.”
We’ll put up a much better performance – Jason Holder
Ahead of their 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup journey in England and Wales, Windies is currently busy in the ongoing ODI tri-series in Ireland. Apart from the host team Ireland, Windies and Bangladesh are also participating in this tri-series.
After a thrashing victory against Ireland by 196 runs, Windies suffered an eight-wicket defeat against Bangladesh. Standing in the second position in the points table, Holder believes that they will play better cricket in the second half of this tri-series.
Holder said, “I’m happy with how things have gone so far. I think the guys have been working really hard, they’ve been very disciplined. We probably weren’t at our best in the last game, but we’ve had tons of discussions over the last couple of days as to how we can get better and how we can improve, which is what you want in a young group like this one. I’m very positive that we can bounce back against Ireland, and when we play Bangladesh the second time around, we’ll put up a much better performance.”
The two-time World Cup winners Windies will begin their upcoming Cricket World Cup journey on 31st May. On the day two of the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, Windies will meet against Pakistan at Trent Bridge.