West Indies captain Shai Hope was dejected after his team's third successive defeat in the ICC World Cup 2023 Qualifiers which saw them crash out of the tournament on Saturday.
The Windies went down by 7 wickets against Scotland at the Harare Sports Club to trigger a massive heartbreak among cricket fans as they won't be participating in a World Cup for the first time in the history of the sport.
Chasing a paltry target of 182 for victory, Scotland crossed the finish line in the 44th over thanks to superb knocks from Matthew Cross (74*) and Brandon McMullen (69).
This is the first time Scotland defeated the Windies in 50-overs cricket.
Players gutted after defeat
West Indies lost against Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and now Scotland to get eliminated from the qualifying tournament.
"To be honest, there is not one thing I can put my finger on. We let ourselves down in the entire tournament.
"I probably have to say the mindset. It really has to do with the attitude, we need to put in a much better effort. The effort needs to remain, regardless of what has happened. We did it in patches but we certainly need to improve on that," Hope said after the match.
Future of WI cricket looks bleak
This will be the first time in the history of World Cups that a team from the Caribbean won't take part in the main tournament.
And with thousands of West Indies cricket fans in India, the players will feel they lost out on a massive opportunity to showcase their talent in a country where they have received so much love thanks to the IPL.
When asked about the future of WI cricket from here, Hope said, "We are all new so we had to understand each other even more. Lots to look forward to and we all have to go one way - that is up."
