Kolkata, Feb 7 (IANS) West Indies skipper Shai Hope hailed his side’s strong start to the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup campaign with a 35-run win over Scotland at Eden Gardens and credited Shimron Hetmyer’s fluent 64, as well as Romario Shepherd’s match-turning spell of 5-20, including a hat-trick.

“There’s no margin for error in these tournaments. It’s not like a bilateral series where you’ve got another game to get back into the series if you come up on the losing end, but a good start is all we’re after. We felt we probably could have gone a little bit more, especially here in Eden Gardens.

“It’s a chasing ground. I think the first score was 190 or something. So it was a bit challenging to start. It was just good to see the guys came back in the middle overs and showed what the power that we possess. Again with the ball, just putting it hard this time around and getting it right,” said Hope in the post-match presentation ceremony.

On Hetmyer’s form, Hope stated, “For sure he’s been playing really well. I think this is his fourth consecutive 40-plus score. So he’s been in form at the right time, as they call it. It’s good to see him playing free, playing his way and scoring runs and performing for the team.”

“The reality is we had a very destructive left-hander at number three last time. Just, I wouldn’t call it necessarily like for like, but very close. They’re very dangerous players, both of them. Especially being a left-hander, a lot of these teams tend to have a left-arm spinner or a leggie or a leggie powerplay or just outside. So it’s good to have him there and he’s a very good player against spin as well. So having him there makes it a lot more dangerous for us as a batting lineup,” he said.

Hope reserved special praise for Shepherd’s impact with the ball. “Very surprising there to be fair. Good impact again. Put his hand up where we needed him most. They really got a nice start there, fighting the middle overs. They were going pretty nicely and it got a lot better for the bat on.

“Just coming in there, taking those crucial wickets. They’re putting further pressure back on their batting lineup. Shepherd, I think, this is his second hat-trick in T20. So great for him and just to see him going well with the ball as well,” he said.

Scotland captain Richie Berrington acknowledged the positives despite the defeat to West Indies. “Obviously we are disappointed with how that has finished up. After that first innings we were really confident that we could come out and chase that score down, especially with the depth we have got in our batting. So disappointed not to quite get there in the end but definitely a lot of positives to take out of that,” he said.

He admitted the turning point came when Scotland lost two set batters – himself and Tom Bruce – in quick succession. “After the first 10, 12 overs, we got ourselves in a really strong position there. Probably just losing two set batsmen within a couple of overs just swung the momentum back West Indies’ way. And we didn’t quite manage to find a way back into the game after that.”

Looking ahead, Berrington said the team would take positives into their next fixture. “Look, it’s obviously been great to get a feel for the conditions here. Today was our first game at Eden Gardens. So I’d say there’s definitely a lot of positives we can take from today. We need to take that into our next game in a couple of days’ time.”

–IANS

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