We could not assess conditions quickly: Shai Hope

Ahmedabad, Feb 26 (PTI) West Indies captain Shai Hope admitted that failure to quickly assess conditions and execute plans cost his side dearly as they slumped to their first defeat of the T20 World Cup against South Africa in the Super 8 stage here on Thursday.

Hope said the result was not what the team wanted but insisted it was more about execution than any drastic change in conditions as they played their first game in Ahmedabad.

"There are so many factors you can discuss, but I think it always comes down to execution. Sometimes when you don't adapt and assess as quickly as you would like, you find yourself in a big catch-up," Hope said at the post-match press conference.

Describing the pitch as a "very good surface" that reminded him of South African conditions, Hope felt his batters perhaps did not size up the bounce and movement early enough.

"It was a good surface. Maybe we didn't assess as well as we could have. Once you lose wickets in clusters, it always pushes you back." He credited the South African attack for exploiting the conditions expertly.

"They are a very good team. You can see they have been doing it for many years. They have a range of skills, pace on, pace off, hard lengths. When you have so many options to call upon, it makes life easier as a captain." Despite being reduced to 60 for five inside the powerplay, West Indies continued to play their shots, eventually recovering to post a competitive total. Hope defended the aggressive approach, saying modern T20 cricket leaves little room for a rigid template.

"There's no right or wrong way. If we had gone harder, who knows, we might have got 230. If we had tried to rebuild, we might still have fallen short. It's about execution on the day. Maybe a few decisions could be questioned, but we got to 176 from that situations, and we should get credit for that," he said.

On whether the team should have adopted a 'Plan B' after the early collapse, Hope maintained that the intent was necessary on a surface that demanded a competitive score.

"If we had just batted deep and got 150 or 160, we would have been asking too much of our bowlers. From 80 for six to get to 170-plus, that shows character." Looking ahead to the crucial clash against India, Hope dismissed suggestions that the road has suddenly become difficult.

"This is crunch time. Every game is supposed to be a challenge. We have to turn things around quickly and play better cricket in the next match," he added. PTI APS APS AH AH