West Indies captain Shai Hope has called on his side to correct their batting errors after India won the first T20I of the five-match series by eight wickets with 32 balls remaining at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on October 6, 2026.
West Indies batted first after India won the toss and chose to field. Hope scored 52 off 37 balls and Sherfane Rutherford contributed 56 off 34 balls from No. 5, helping West Indies reach 82 for 3 at the halfway mark with Hope on 41 and Rutherford on 18. However, the innings collapsed sharply, and by the 16th over West Indies were 135 for 8, finishing on 171. Hope acknowledged the powerplay had offered some promise before things unravelled.
“When you come to India and playing in their home conditions, you’ve got to play your best cricket. You know they’re a very tough team to beat, so you’ve got to make sure you have more rights than wrongs – something that we didn’t do well today. I felt like we allowed them to get back into the game a bit more as we started okay in the powerplay,” Hope said in the post-match press conference, as quoted by Cricinfo.
Why did West Indies collapse after a decent start?
West Indies were positioned reasonably at 82 for 3 at the halfway stage, but the middle and lower order fell away rapidly. Debutant offspinner Naman Dhir was central to the collapse, dismissing Hope for 52, Romario Shepherd and Shamar Springer to leave the visitors reeling at 135 for 8 by the 16th over. Hope acknowledged that the batting group had underestimated Dhir’s threat. Hope was candid that the side had not met the required standard.
“When you think about him as the options that they have, you will see him as the second spinner or the extra spinner. So usually, as a batting group, we tend to say ‘okay maybe target this guy’. But still we’ve got to play the situation in the game. If he’s bowling the best on the day then he’s not the so-called second spinner or third spinner. There are a lot of guys who have played here, whether it’s in the IPL or previous tours. So we just need to use those experiences and find ways to get better and come back for the next game,” he said.
How did Rutherford and India’s chase shape the result?
Despite the collapse, Hope offered praise for Rutherford, whose 56 off 34 balls was one of the brighter moments in the West Indies innings. Hope also noted that Rutherford’s return to form was welcome after a lean ODI series.
“Rutherford has been playing really well in this format, he’s been playing some magnificent innings for us, giving us opportunities to defend. It’s great to see him back in the runs. He didn’t get many runs in the ODI series [0 and 24], so it’s nice to see him ticking those boxes here in the T20 series,” he added.
India’s chase was anchored by Shreyas Iyer, who scored his first T20I century to guide the hosts to victory with 32 balls to spare. West Indies now trail the five-match series 0-1 and will need to address their batting shortcomings ahead of the second T20I.
