Shai Diego Hope is a Barbadian cricketer who was born on 10th November 1993 at Saint Michael, Barbados. He is a right-handed batsman and left-arm medium pace bowler who plays Tests and ODIs for the West Indies cricket team. Hope was picked in the West Indies squad after he hit a double hundred against the Windwards Islands at the Kensington Oval at the 2014-15 Regional four-day competition. Shai was awarded as the ‘Men’s cricketer of the year’, the test cricketer of the year and also the ODI cricketer of the year at the annual Cricket West Indies Awards. Next year, he was named the ODI player of the year.

In his initial days, he averaged only 16 in his first 10 test matches and he had a lot of pressure starting off. After making his first-class debut in 2012-13, he finally made an impression with a solid season in 2014-15 by becoming the fourth highest run-scorer of the tournament smashing 628 runs in 9 matches. He scored 2 hundred against England in a Test match at Headingly and he became the first player 534 first-class matches to score a hundred in both the innings at Headingly. After his innings, West Indies became the first team to chase such a big target at the stadium in 69 years.

One interesting fact is that Hope had only played in 14 first-class matches before he got his first International call. He was picked for the national side right after he hit a double hundred against the Windwards Islands in a first-class game. Even though he struggled in his initial days after his International debut, but the selectors did not lose hope in him and he had the backing from his team as well.

Hope has played 76 matches so far, hitting 3289 runs at an average of 51.39. He made his debut on 16th November against Sri Lanka at the Harare sports club. He has 9 hundred and 17 fifties to his name and holds a strike rate of 74.38. Hope’s maiden ODI hundred came in his second match against Zimbabwe after he scored 101 chasing a score of 257. Although the match ended in a tie, Hope was named the ‘Man of the Match’.

Hope made his Test debut against England at Kensington Oval on 1st May 2015. The most interesting moment in his career came when the West Indies pulled back a surprising victory in the second test match against England at Leeds where they chased down 322 runs to win the match, defeating them after 17 years. Hope hit two centuries in the match and remained unbeaten in the second innings to lead his team to victory. He also has hit 5 fifties and has a strike rate of 42.73.

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Hope made his T20 debut against New Zealand on 29th December 2017 at Saxton Oval. Hope has played only 13 matches till date and has scored 238 at a strike rate of 136. His highest score in this format is 55 and he has two fifties to his name.

Someone who has stepped into the international arena so early in his career, is bound to go through a few hiccups, but it is very impressive to notice how Hope has managed to stay in the middle and is still considered as reliable because of a few notable knocks in the past.