Ahmedabad, February 26 – West Indies captain Shai Hope has admitted that losing four wickets in the Power-play while batting first proved to be a crucial turning point in their crushing nine-wicket defeat to South Africa in the Super 8 clash of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The West Indies posted a score of 176/6 in 20 overs, with contributions from former captain Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd, but it was not enough as South Africa achieved the target in just 16.1 overs, thanks to a brilliant innings by captain Aiden Markram.
"It was very important to get a big score, but losing so many wickets in the Power-play cost us. We were 40-50 short. I must commend the players in the lower order for giving us a chance; you never know how things could have changed. This pitch was probably better for batting than Mumbai. The ball was coming nicely; there wasn't much bounce when we bowled, and you could play through the line," he said after the match.
Hope also believes that the bowlers' execution was not up to par, which allowed the batsmen to score easily.
"I just think we need to ensure that we execute our plans. We have all the right players to handle any conditions. Again, you can have things in your favour as a bowling unit, but if you're not executing, then you're still giving the batsmen the opportunity to score," he said.
With this defeat, the next match against India will be a crucial one for the West Indies team. Hope said that the team will focus on the next game, which will be like a quarter-final.
"Sometimes, it's good to have a loss earlier in the campaign, but now we see the importance of this next game, and it's important for us to ensure that we hit our shots well. And we've got to use it as a learning experience, our first final and hopefully a few more after that," he concluded.
