Hope: 'Playing India in their backyard is always a challenge'

The West Indies captain wants to see the progress some of his more inexperienced team-mates make on their first tour to India

West Indies captain Shai Hope is relishing the challenge to face India at home and hopes his team-mates will "grasp and embrace" the opportunity to play one of the best teams in the world in what he expects to be a tough ODI series.

Having failed to automatically qualify for the 2027 ODI World Cup, West Indies will play the qualifiers in February for the third straight time in a bid to make it to the showpiece event. For Hope, this series presents the opportunity to bridge the gap with the top sides, while gaining solid preparation for the qualifiers.

"Playing India in their backyard is always a challenge, and it's one that we definitely need to grasp and embrace," Hope said ahead of the first ODI against India in Trivandrum. "When you come here, you expect the best of the best. It's a great indicator for us to see where we are as a team. Playing anyone in their home conditions will always be challenging. But it's something that we always look forward to.RelatedSammy: India series a chance for West Indies to assess ODI progress

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"When you're playing international cricket, you want to play against the best. When they are playing in their home conditions, you get the real test. So, we're definitely looking forward to it and it's going to be an exciting one for us."

For West Indies, ranked tenth in the world, to challenge and topple India will require a collective effort. Leading the way is Hope himself, who has a stellar record in India. He's played 11 ODIs in the country and scored 512 runs with two fifties and two centuries, while averaging 56.88. Hope has comfortably been West Indies' top ODI batter for some time. Since the start of 2025, he's scored 869 runs at 51.11, the highest for any West Indies batter in the format. So, what's he done right which his team-mates have not been able to replicate?

"I pride myself a lot on trying to be the best that I can be," he said. "And, one of those things is that you have to be able to adapt. Adaptability in different conditions and playing against different opposition. It's not always going to work out. We know it's a professional sport. Every day is not going to be your day. But, I really try to focus on the fine details to give myself the best chance to score runs. Here in India, you've got to play differently than when you go to Australia or England. Even back in the Caribbean.

"It's just about being very critical of the way you go about your training and preparation. That's something I always try to put out there in team rooms whenever we have our chats and discussions. Just try to pay close attention to detail and the way we go about preparing and analysing the opposition and the conditions that we play in."Whenever you come to India, it's one tour you look forward to coming to play. When I was younger in my career as well, it was a tour I was expecting a lot from myself. I wanted to see where I was at"

"So, it's just about being very clear about how you want to go about scoring runs in whichever conditions you play in. Hopefully, some of the guys who have never been here before can get a good start to their careers."

West Indies have come to India with a squad brimming with experience but also some fresh faces. While the likes of Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph and Sherfane Rutherford have prior experience of playing in India, for Vitel Lawes, Jewel Andrew and Amir Jangoo, this is uncharted territory. And for Hope, more than just winning the series or trying to outdo India, he wants to see "progression" in the younger players, and how fast they can "adapt against the best in the world."

"It's a very exciting time I would say for these players," Hope said. "Maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but I think I can speak on their behalf. Whenever you come to India, it's one tour you look forward to coming to play. When I was younger in my career as well, it was a tour I was expecting a lot from myself. I wanted to see where I was at.

"Looking at the group that we have now, a few of the guys haven't been in India, haven't played in these conditions before. I look at it as an exciting time. We want to win all the time. We want to make sure we get the best results from a team perspective. But, for me personally as a leader, I want to see progression. I want to see how fast we can adapt against the best in the world and how we can compete.

"And if we find ourselves at a crucial moment in the game, if we can grasp that, then I think we'll find ourselves going in the right direction."

It's been 20 years since West Indies won a bilateral series against India and 24 since their last bilateral series win in India. Those are numbers Hope is all too familiar with and hopes they serve as added motivation in West Indies' quest for an upset.

"The harsh reality is almost every series that we go into, those stats are always at the top of the list," he said. "We always say we haven't beaten this team in 20 years or 15-plus years. You can talk about not automatically qualifying for the World Cup, but certainly some of the strides that we make as a team are definitely commendable. Whenever you come to India and you want to play against the best team, win against the best team. So, it will definitely be added motivation. We know it's going to be a tough uphill battle, but we're looking forward to this one."

West Indies have won just six out of 22 ODIs since the start of 2025. While there have been flashes of brilliance like Keacy Carty's 170 against Ireland or Jayden Seales' 6 for 18 against Pakistan, the consistency has been missing.

"Well, consistency is the biggest thing for us. We've seen great sparks from different series and from different persons around West Indies cricket. But it's about repeating that," Hope said.

"We just need to find a way to be more consistent so we can get a lot more victories. That's how you're going to find yourself climbing up the ladder and really competing against the best teams in the world. That's something I'm really looking forward to seeing us do. If you want to be the best, number one, number two, number three, you've got to do it more consistently."