|| CF Correspondent ||

Amid all disappointments in ongoing series against Bangladesh, the major hope of West Indies is Shai Hope. In ODI series, the 25-year old struck two straight unbeaten centuries, one of which helped West Indies win their only match in the series so far.

But in the third and final game, in which the battled lonely to hit an unbeaten 108 in the West Indies’ total of 198, Hope had to leave the ground during the chase of Bangladesh after being struck on his head by a delivery of off-spinner Roston Chase. He later didn’t comeback to the ground, raising a question whether he would be fit enough to play the first T20 match.

But West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite insisted that Hope will play the match and the insistence was  forceful to that extent that he went on saying, ‘Hope will play unless he passes away.”

“Shai (Hope) is in beautiful batting form, fresh off two back-to-back unbeaten centuries,” said Brathwaite.

“Even if Shai has to play with a stretcher, I will volunteer to carry the stretcher between the wickets. He is fine and in good spirits. He is out practicing, so hopefully he is close to 100 per cent. As long as he is alive, he will play tomorrow.”