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West Indies skipper Shai Hope, after qualifying for the Super 8 stage in the ongoing ICC Men's 20 World Cup, says it feels great to start on the right foot, exactly what we aimed for from the start.
Jason Holder's four-fer and skipper Hope's 61 off 44 balls helped West Indies defeat Nepal by nine wickets in match 25 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday as the Caribbean side became the first team to enter the Super Eights. Nepal are officially eliminated from the Super Eights race. "That's a great feeling. That's what we set out to do from the jump. And when you got on the plane to come here, that was our first step. We all want to lift the trophy, but there's a process to get there. So, playing our best cricket, hopefully, we can continue to peak and keep growing as a strong unit in all departments. And when the time comes, those crunch times come, we can always seize those moments and ensure we are on top," Hope told the reporters after the match. Hope added that it's early in the tournament, but the team needs its own identity--not just to echo past greats. He recalled the West Indies' first two 50-over World Cup wins as a legacy, yet notes coach Darren Samay's point that there is a chance to write new history, one game and one process at a time. "It's very early in the tournament, but it's important for us to have our own identity as well. We look at the great teams and the great players of the past. We won the first two 50 over World Cups but again that's their legacy and as you said our coach said we have opportunity to write our own history, but you still got to take it game by game, stage by stage and make sure we hit in our processes so we can write that own history that we're talking about," he added. Nepal ended the innings at 133/8. The Shai Hope-led Windies chased down a modest target of 134 runs in just 15.2 overs to secure a comfortable win over the Asian nation. King (22 off 17 balls) and Hope (61 not out off 44 balls) added 43 runs for the first wicket. After that, Shimron Hetmyer (46 not out off 32 balls) joined Hope and took the Windies past the line comfortably. Brief Score: Nepal 133/8 in 20 overs (Dipendra Singh Airee 58, Sompal Kami 26; Jason Holder 27/4) vs West Indies 134/1 in 15.2 overs (Shai Hope 61, Shimron Hetmyer 46; Nandan Yadav 24/1). (ANI)
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