|| CF Correspondent ||

Neil McKenzie, Bangladesh batting consultant, believes that the blazing half-century of Shai Hope played a big impact on the outcome of the three-match Twenty20 series opener. 

Hope walloped the third-fastest T20I fifty to help West Indies overpower Bangladesh by eight wickets in Sylhet and go to Dhaka with a 1-0 lead.

Hope reached his fifty off 16 balls, behind Yuvraj Singh (12 balls) and Colin Munro (14 balls) and that in itself was good enough to tell the story of his brutality in the middle.

Hope shared an opening stand of 51 runs in 3.2 overs with the return of Evin Lewis, and then put on 47 in 4.2 overs with Nicholas Pooran to leave their opponent out of the game inside eight overs  

The visitors raced to 91 for 1, equaling the highest score in the powerplay alongside Australia, Ireland and Netherlands, who had also got there in Sylhet, four years ago during the World T20 2014.

Hope’s 23-ball 55 helped him became the fastest West Indian to a T20I half-century and the innings decorated with three-four and six sixes was good enough to showcase his sublime form with the bat in the recent past.

Hope already hit two centuries in the ODI’s and looked determined not to let this good form slip away from his hand easily.