In-form Hope doesn’t throw his bat away, plays proper cricket shots, says Chanderpaul

New Delhi: West Indies skipper Shai Hope's recent run of big scores in the ongoing white-ball series against India has come without him sacrificing the orthodox method that defines his batting, said legendary batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul on Saturday.

Chanderpaul, currently playing and coaching the West Indies champions in the World Championship of Legends, described Hope as a more mature and confident player who finds the gaps rather than swinging wildly. Hope has been in stellar form, scoring four centuries across three ODIs and four T20Is against India.

With the T20I series locked at 2-2 ahead of Saturday's decider in Bengaluru, it will be critical for India to dismiss Hope quickly. "Look, his all-round cricket has developed. You can see, he is scoring much freer. He is more confident now. He can go out and express himself early on.

“Yes, he is not going to go as a crazy guy out there and throw his bat away. He played proper cricket shots, and he hit proper boundaries. He hit them in the good areas. What you call proper cricket shots is that he just doesn't go out there and swipe - he hits it well.

“He hits it into the gaps and finds his boundaries. Whenever it is pitched up and he can hit it over the top, he hits it over the fielders. But he has developed over the years. He is much more mature now. He is more confident in going out and playing his game," Chanderpaul said to IANS in a virtual interaction facilitated by Cricketaaa on Saturday.

According to Chanderpaul, much of the evolution of Hope’s batting, especially in the shortest format, was shaped by honing his skills on the slow, spin-friendly pitches of Providence Stadium, where Hope turned out for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League.

"Look, Shai Hope has played a lot of cricket in Guyana. He played for Guyana Amazon Warriors. He has learned how to bat on those wickets. If anybody could score runs in Providence, Guyana, they could score runs anywhere. He learned how to play spinners there, how to score and bat really, really well. Mostly against any bowlers, right? Because if you can score runs in Guyana, you can score runs anywhere.

"He developed his cricket really well. There are a few other guys who came from Guyana – Hetmyer, Rutherford, Shepherd, Motie and Shamar Joseph are there. All of them are from Guyana, right? So, these guys know how to play on those sorts of wickets. The pacer will bowl one over, and then the spinner will take over. So, you learn to bat against spin from those sorts of wickets."

Even as he praised Hope, Chanderpaul stressed that the West Indies could not afford to lean on one or two players, and pointed to the depth of match-winners in the current side. "But then, the West Indies team also have other players there. You have Rovman Powell, and all the other guys who are in the team right now who also are match winners. So, at any given point, these guys can win you matches.

“As much as you call on two names, yes, who's performing now, yes, Shai Hope is doing well and helping his team to get over the line, which is really good. But you have other guys in the team also who are match winners. So, we can't overlook those guys either. They are there, and they will contribute, and they can win matches by themselves anytime also."

On the spread of franchise T20 leagues around the world and the future of the all-format cricketer looking bleak, Chanderpaul said the leagues had become a valuable platform for spotting talent. "It's good that we have T20 formats all around the world because this is how you get a chance to see all the cricketers.

“Like in the past, we didn't need our country to put us out there. Now we have so many different leagues opening in every part of the world. So, now you get a chance to see more players. Players are still active, playing cricket, and that's what you want to see.

“You want them out there being active, playing cricket, and then you can pick up your players to play for your country. If you think they are good enough to play and represent their country, yes, definitely, you will get a chance to grab them.

"But if you don't have all these leagues out there, then it's difficult to see all these players. I mean, everybody around the world is watching cricket, and there are a lot of teams who are keeping their eyes on talented players that they can grab for their teams also, and these leagues are also helping to do these things," he elaborated.

Chanderpaul, who played in the early seasons of the IPL and in three T20 World Cups, said the format had changed beyond recognition since the days when teams had little data to work with.

"Look, T20 cricket has definitely gone a long way from when I first started in the IPL. At that time, we were just trying to figure out what would have been a normal score, what could be a par score, or a winning score. You're trying to work out everything here and there. There's not much stats out there to tell you that this is a par score on this or that ground. There are no stats from that time there.

"Yes, I played three T20 World Cups. But there were not many stats that tell you what would be a winning score on whichever ground you play on. But now there's a lot of information out there, and players are now developing way more shots than we played back then, and they've been successful doing it.

"Scores have been changing from 150 as a winning score to 250 sometimes. Still, people try to knock off those big scores also. So, it shows that the game definitely for batters has gone a long way. T20 cricket is all about playing shots and making big scores. Players have really been doing well playing this format. So, look, it's gone a long way. It's changed a long way, and it's really exciting for everyone, all the fans out there and everyone who's watching."

In Sharjah, Chanderpaul himself had a vintage batting display when his unbeaten 41 off 27 balls, with three sixes, carried West Indies Champions past Australia Champions in the semi-final of the World Championship of Legends and will face England in the final on Sunday. Chanderpaul, who has been doubling up as player and coach, said he had not planned on batting, but injuries left the side short.

"I came in, and we didn't have much batting. So, we have a few guys who are injured and end up playing the rest of the guys who are on the bench. I made up the numbers, and I didn't expect much from myself out there. But I am thankful that I was able to give the team what they needed at that point of time when in a crucial game like this one."

West Indies Champions franchise owner Ajay Sethi said the team's progress over three seasons reflected the hunger of its veterans, and compared Chanderpaul's strokeplay against Australia to that of a young Sachin Tendulkar.

"In Season 1, we were in the semi-finals, and we lost to Pakistan. Then in Season 2 and now Season 3, we are in the finals. I think that's very good progress for our team of legends. The kind of hook shots and cricketing shots he played, it looked like we were watching Sachin Tendulkar in his youth. This is a big, big message to the lot of legends who cross 50. They get this motivation that, come on, I can still play and score sixes and score good runs and make the team win."

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