In Kolkata, March 2, taking responsibility for the West Indies' elimination from the T20 World Cup, captain Shai Hope said he should have batted more aggressively at the top to set a more challenging target for India in their must-win Super Eight match here.
India, the defending champions, chased down a challenging 196-run target to knock out the former champions at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
The visitors appeared to be 20 runs short, as Hope scored 32 off 33 balls, with a strike rate of over 96, including 17 dot balls that likely cost them dearly in a high-scoring match.
"Yes, I take responsibility. I should have batted much more aggressively," Hope said in the post-match media interaction, without dodging any tough questions, on Sunday.
"When you're leading, you want to set the tone at the top. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for me today. I just didn't get going," he conceded.
"But in situations like this, when you're struggling, everyone struggles. But I don't think I was batting poorly."
India had a perfect plan to restrict the aggressive West Indies after Suryakumar Yadav opted to bowl. They started with Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel in the powerplay, and they executed their strategy effectively, keeping Hope quiet early on.
Then, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, deliberately held back for the middle phase, delivered a ball that skidded through to rattle the stumps, dismissing Hope.
Although opener Roston Chase's acceleration and the late flourish from Rovman Powell and Jason Holder lifted the West Indies to 195/4, the total felt inadequate on a good Eden surface, with the dew aiding the chase.
However, Hope said the shortfall in runs was not due to a lack of intent.
"It was a bit of both. I hit a few fielders, and they bowled well. While you'd always like to hit every ball for six, it doesn't always happen. I was just hitting the fielders and then trying to adapt to the situation," he explained.
"Obviously, I wanted to bat for a longer period and face more spin in the middle," he added.
Hope further admitted that his team could have utilized the powerplay phase more effectively.
"We wanted to score 65-70 in the powerplay. We were 45 without loss, so we had a good start. With our batting depth, I didn't see it as a major issue at the time, but we didn't execute as well as we wanted," he said.
Calling it a fine-margin contest, he said: "It's always a game of small margins. There are so many moments you can look back at and say maybe we should have done a little more or a little less. But one team has to win."
He further said the conditions favored the chasing side and regretted losing the toss.
"Here at Eden Gardens, chasing is usually better, especially with the dew. It always becomes a factor. I don't think I could have won the toss, so I always give the advantage to the other team."
"I don't think I won a toss in this tournament? One? Okay. Probably before that, in the rest of the series, maybe one or two. Yeah, so that always puts me on the back foot."
However, looking at the broader picture, Hope chose to focus on the campaign's positives.
"There are a lot of positives. Our bowling was much better than in previous series. The powerplay bowling especially stood out," he noted.
"Sanju deserves an A+"
Hope was effusive in praising India's match-winner Sanju, whose unbeaten 97 anchored the home team's chase. Having faced criticism and frequent exclusion in recent times, Sanju made the most of the opportunity in the biggest game.
A natural opener, he was not the preferred choice of the side at the start of the tournament after Ishan Kishan's explosive return. Ishan was the preferred choice with Abhishek Sharma in the opening position.
But following India's batting collapse against South Africa, the management had to rely on his experience at the top.
He repaid that faith with a blazing start against Zimbabwe and then produced the innings of his life at Eden.
"He played the ball very well from the beginning all the way through to the end of the innings, and he paced it really well. He was very smart and calculated with the way he went about his strokes.
"You must give him an A-plus for the way he played today. But we wish he didn't have such an innings," Hope said.
