T20 World Cup: Must Give Sanju Samson Credit for the Way He Batted — Shai Hope

T20 World Cup 2026: Had it not been for Sanju Samson, West Indies could have been in the semi-finals.

T20 World Cup 2026: West Indies captain credited Sanju Samson for his knock.

(Photo: X)

For Shai Hope, the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 will be a case of what-could-have-been. Not many expected West Indies to qualify for the semi-finals prior to the commencement of the competition, and they eventually did not, but for five consecutive victories before the two defeats which ultimately knocked them out, Hope's men can hold their heads high.

Against India, the defending champions, West Indies could have secured a win, had it not been for Sanju Samson. But chasing a target of 196, Samson scored an unbeaten 50-ball 97, effectively taking the game away from the two-time champions.

At the post-match press conference, Hope told The Quint that despite the surface at Eden Gardens being tailormade for batting, nothing can be taken away from Samson.

Sanju played really well. He a good player. It was also a good surface. Especially in the night time when you're chasing on a pitch like this in the Eden Gardens, its usually easier to score freely. But taking nothing away from him, like I said he's a quality player, he's been playing really well for so many years now and it’s one of those things — the batter just gets the better of our bowlers. It’s part of the game as well, you must give credit for the innings that he played today.

Shai Hope

He further added:

He played a really good innings. There were so many small margins, but you must give a guy credit when he's playing really well. He shot the ball very nicely from the beginning all the way through to the end of the innings and he's paced it really nicely. He was very smart and calculated with the way he went about his strokes. But yeah, you must give him an A+ with the way he played today. But we wish he didn't have that innings today.

Shai Hope

Captain Takes Responsibility for Defeat

While every West Indies batter had a strike rate in excess of 150, the only outlier was Hope himself. Opening the inning, the captain scored a 33-ball 32. If only he accumulated runs at a brisk pace, akin to his teammates, West Indies could have qualified for the semi-finals.

Dejected, he took the blame on himself for the defeat.

Sometimes you just don’t get the ball away. As much as you would love to come and hit every single ball for six, it doesn’t happen. I hit a of few fielders today as well, so it doesn’t help. And I thought they bowled pretty well to be fair, but again – something that you want to be better, especially top of the innings, you want to set the tone of the batter, and even as a captain. Especially when you’re leading – you want to put your hand up but doesn’t happen today.

Shai Hope

Though, he also explained that he was not batting particularly badly.

I don't think I was batting badly. It's just I was hitting the fielders and then trying to play the situation a bit more. Obviously, I wanted to bat a little bit deeper into the innings and face most of the spin threat in the middle. But I just didn't get going today. But yes, I'll take the blame.

Shai Hope