West Indies skipper Rovman Powell lauded Hope for showing his mettle after being dropped for the contest against England.
West Indies batters put on a sensational display of power-hitting to clinch their first win in the Super 8 of the ongoing T20 World Cup for their nine-wicket triumph over the USA at Kensington Oval on Saturday.
The win improved West Indies' standing in the Group 2 points table. The Caribbean side, which had suffered an eight-wicket hammering from England on Wednesday, is now placed second with two points and a Net Run Rate of 1.814.
Chasing 129 for victory, opener Shai Hope (82* off 39 deliveries) coming in place of injured Brandon King, went all guns blazing in the powerplay, leaving the USA dazed.
The floodgates opened, and boundaries started to rain in Bridgetown from Hope's bat. Johnson Charles played second fiddle Hope's carnage propelled the Windies to 67/1 in the powerplay.
Hope raised his bat for a 26-ball fifty by smoking the ball into the stand right after the powerplay. In the same over, West Indies lost Charles to Harmeet Singh.
The best moment from Hope's knock was the hat-trick of sixes, clobbering the ball all over the stadium off Milind Kumar in the 9th over.
Nicholas Pooran ( 27* off 12 balls) joined the action and put on an unbeaten 63-run stand with Hope, who finished off the chase in style by sending the ball sailing into the stand to seal a nine-wicket win with more than nine overs to spare.
The Barbadian crowd gave him a rapturous reception as the teams left the field and Hope was understandably delighted.
"To do it at home is a great feeling, with my parents and my friends watching," he said.
"This is my favourite place to play cricket. It's our destiny and our goal to win the World Cup."
"Credit has to be given to the boys, we set out to achieve a goal and we did," said West Indies skipper Rovman Powell, who was already looking forward to the possibility of returning to Bridgetown for the final.
"Kensington brings special memory for us . It's a mecca of cricket in the Caribbean ... hopefully we can be here back on the 29th in a special place to play cricket."
Powell lauded Hope for showing his mettle after being dropped for the contest against England.
“He's been fantastic, he got a chance against Afghanistan but was dropped next game against England in St Lucia because of the combination. However, he was hungry for a good performance,” Powell said.
“It's (the win is) very special, Kensington brings back special memories for us. We had a great opportunity to come out and play some good cricket. (Roston) Chase plays really well, plays a role very well. Keeps things tight. On a good surface, he bowled really well,” Powell added.
USA skipper Aaron Jones rued not putting up a better show with the bat on a wicket which had plenty of runs.
"(It was a) tough night for the boys. We had to score about 170-180 today. In the middle overs, we lost wickets in clusters, it goes like that sometimes. At the end of the day, we needed runs on the board,” he said.
"We tried to go hard with the ball but we know West Indies are a good batting unit. England will be a good game, we are up for a challenge,” he added
Earlier in the innings, after being put to bat, the USA lost Steven Taylor early in the powerplay. But the presence of Andries Gous ensured that they enjoyed a decent powerplay by putting up a score of 48/1.
Gous and Nitish Kumar looked well-settled while they were at the crease. But West Indies swung the momentum in their favour by breaking the partnership.
Aaron struck a monstrous 101m six, and after that, the USA batting order collapsed like a house of cards.
A couple of boundaries from Ali Khan towards the end propelled the USA to 128.
