Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 22 (ANI): Ahead of his side's Super Eight clash against Zimbabwe, West Indies head coach Daren Sammy spoke on skipper Shai Hope's batting approach, pointing out that he can hit a ball 'as long as anybody' and his strike rate is 'still higher than a lot of big hitters'.

Two-time champions West Indies will start their bid to reach the knockout stage and to eventually capture their third title as they take on Zimbabwe in their Super Eight clash at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Monday. So far, WI captain Hope has made 155 runs at an average of 51.66 and a strike rate of 134.78, with two successive fifties against Italy and Nepal after a rough first two games. Among the players with 150-plus runs in the tournament so far, he has the third-worst strike rate.

Over the last three years, Hope has made massive strides as a T20I batter, scoring 1,117 runs in 38 matches and innings at an average of 36.03 and a strike rate of over 145, with a century and nine fifties to his name. He has also become one of the most sought-after players in the T20 league circuit. Before 2024, he had played 26 T20Is, scoring just 493 runs in 24 innings at an average of 22.41, with just two fifties and a strike rate of over 124.

Speaking during the pre-match presser, Sammy said about Hope's batting approach that a batter's job is 'to score runs' and the skipper executes his role in such a way that the team and other batters are successful in their roles.

'I think a batsman's job is to score runs. Whether, if you watch Shai, he hits the ball as long as anybody. Six over the hoop or six in the stand is still six runs. But I think the role he plays at the top, and I think I saw something. His strike rate is still higher than a lot of our big hitters. So I think it is just because he is not muscling the ball, we think that he is not as bad as he looks. But his boundary percentage, his strike rate, is still the same. The role he brings, he executes it in a way that makes the team successful. And Rovman (Powell) or Brandon King or Sherfane (Rutherford) or Hetty (Shimron Hetmyer), they have their role that they could execute the best way possible in the squad that we have,' he said.

'When you put all these different roles together, that is what you get, like we've been playing in the group stages. But Shai is class, he works really hard at his game, understands what he has to do in the batting lineup, which could help our guys fulfil their role even better. So, if he is scoring runs, we are happy, but like we have seen throughout this tournament, performances have been coming from different people when Shai and Brandon did not come off it was Hetty and Sherfane then it was Jason and Shepherd won one time, so it is good. The team is in a good space. We just got to continue trusting the processes and executing the different roles successfully,' he added.

Sammy also acknowledged Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani, the tournament's second-highest wicket-taker with nine wickets in three matches at an average of 7.88, with a four-fer as an 'X-Factor', but said that plans are being made for every player.

'We plan for every single player. Not only him (Muzarabani), he is an X factor. And as I said earlier, you have got to respect the opposition. We know the threat they bring against us, but we also know what we have to do in order for him not to be threatening against us,' he said.

The WI head coach also pointed out how associate nations pushed the Test playing nations to their limits in the tournament so far, doing their part in growing the game, and Zimbabwe, who missed the last T20 WC, have been 'led by example' by their captain Sikandar Raza.

'Sikandar, very confident, and he leads by example. And they got six fans in the stands that sounds like one million. So there are a lot of things that are going for them. And I could understand from that standpoint, where nobody gives you a chance, how you could use that as inspiration. So I am really looking forward to tomorrow, two teams they have not lost and hopefully the people will be entertained, but with all the entertainment, West Indies will come out victorious,' he added.

The head coach also noted that it is the first time in a long while that every single person who is available for the West Indies is featuring in the tournament.

'I think just the way we have been building the different players that we have tried, heading into the World Cup, and I think it is a conscious effort on each player to just pay a little bit more attention to the detail, the preparation, the planning, and I mean with the planning now the clarity that they have had and we have created it makes it easier to execute,' he said.

Sammy also said that the team has the belief in themselves to 'do something special'.

'We have been taking it one game at a time. And again, tomorrow, that one game is against Zimbabwe. So hopefully we continue in that with that same mindset, that same preparation, and hopefully that equates to performance on the cricket field,' he concluded.

Squads: Zimbabwe Squad: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza(c), Dion Myers, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Wellington Masakadza, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Ben Curran, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa West Indies Squad: Brandon King, Shai Hope(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph, Romario Shepherd, Jayden Seales, Quentin Sampson, Johnson Charles. (ANI)