Former Indian Test opener Wasim Jaffer has showered praise on West Indies captain Shai Hope amid the T20I series against India. Hope scored another blistering knock of 102 runs off just 50 balls in the fourth T20I against India at Hyderabad on Wednesday to help his team post a par score of 247 runs on the board.
The flamboyant batter scored four fours and nine sixes in his whirlwind knock. This is Hope’s seventh century against India while playing in Indian conditions, which is the most for any batter.
Hope scored 278 runs in three ODIs against India, whereas he has amassed 261 runs in four T20Is against the hosts at an average of 130.50 and a strike rate of 190.51.
Wasim Jaffer said on his YouTube Channel, “He was initially considered a Test player because he is technically very good. But I think he has elevated his game a lot. He has so many centuries in ODIs as well. People don’t know that he has 20 hundreds. If you ask who watches cricket, he might not know that Shai Hope has 20 hundreds in ODIs. He has taken it to another level in T20 cricket this series.”
Jaffer added that a lot of IPL teams would be interested in roping Shai Hope in the upcoming mini-auction.
He concluded, “A lot of the IPL teams will be very interested in him because he is also a wicketkeeper and a captaincy option. His T20 batting has gone up a notch. It’s not easy to be so consistent in T20 because you play such a high-risk game. But he already has two hundreds in four T20Is.”
The fifth and final match of the series between India and the West Indies will be played at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Saturday.
