West Indies star reveals MS Dhoni’s priceless advice after match-winning ton against England

MS Dhoni’s influence on Indian cricket has been immense. Apart from being one of India’s most successful captains he has been an astute reader of the game. Dhoni is famous for understanding the match situation well and then building his innings accordingly. 

These attributes of MS Dhoni are not just limited to India but also have impacted players across the cricketing world. One of the most recent example of it is West Indies opening batter Shai Hope. He recently scored a match-winning innings of 109 not out in just 83 deliveries against England in the 1st ODI of the series at home and shared post-match about MS Dhoni’s role in his performance.

Shai Hope shared in an interview that he once had a chat with the legend MS Dhoni, who once told him that you always have much more time than you think and this is one piece of advice that has stuck with them since then and has helped his in his ODI batting.

Speaking to West Indies own channels Shai Hope said, “A very, very famous person, MS Dhoni - we had a chat a while ago, and he was saying, 'You always have a lot more time than you think’. That's one thing has stuck with me throughout the years I've been playing ODI cricket,” 

He further added, "We knew it was a challenge to score from the other end, especially going against the breeze… regardless of what happened, I was going to try and take down that second-to-last over to give us the best chance of winning the game.” 

Hope also praises Romario Shepherd

Fueled by a brilliant opening stand of 104 between Alick Athanaze (66 off 65) and Brandon King (35 off 44), West Indies got off to a great start in their chase of a daunting target of 326. Romario Shepherd then launched into a blistering 48 off 28 balls, adding a crucial 89 runs for the sixth wicket with Hope, keeping West Indies firmly in the hunt.

Shai Hope also praised Shephered for his stellar knock that took the West Indies across the line quite comfortably. He said, "He was amazing. He's one of those guys you can depend on and he's continued to show his worth at this level. We're starting the series on a high and the aim is to repeat this in the second game,".