Shai Hope 45-ball ton powers West Indies to record chase in Ranchi

Shai Hope's unbeaten 102 off 45 balls and Sherfane Rutherford's 84 off 37 made a chase that started at 5/2 into the second-highest successful run chase in men's T20Is and the highest ever by West Indies. India's massive total of 249/5 was built on Sanju Samson's 82 and a ferocious finish from Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma. The visitors evened the five-match series 1-1 with their six-wicket victory.

The night's total of 501 runs was the second-highest in men's T20Is, but the big hits were what made the difference between the teams. West Indies hit 20 sixes to India's 13, with nine coming from Hope's bat. India hit more fours. The dew, as Hope had predicted at the toss, did the rest, and India's spinners bore the brunt of it, with Axar conceding 63 in 3.3 overs and Kuldeep 53 in four.

The evening seemed to be heading in one direction after Hope won the toss and sent India in, with West Indies undoing their own efforts with poor fielding. Samson, who came in under pressure after a weak run, was scratchy at first. He eluded the keeper with his first boundary before Kamil Pooran dropped him at cover. By launching the free hit from Akeal Hosein over long-on, he made WI pay almost immediately. He took Hosein for two sixes and two fours in a 22-run over two overs later, appearing more fluent. After a second drop at mid-off on 42, an Indian hit a 21-ball fifty, which was the joint-fastest against the West Indies. On his home ground, Ishan Kishan scored 43 off 22, adding 97 runs in 43 balls, and India reached halftime at 127/1.

Abhishek Sharma, caught at mid-on and cramped for space, had already been removed by Roston Chase, who went 3 for 24, leaving the batters with nothing to hit on a surface where almost everything else vanished. He bowled Kishan with a low delivery, and Shivam Dube kept dragging. Between overs 11 and 15, when Samson uppercut a slower ball from Shamar Springer straight to a squarer-than-usual third man for 82, India only managed 42/3.

Iyer, just coming off his first T20I hundred, and Tilak took 80 off the last five overs. West Indies helped them along with wides, full tosses, and a slow over-rate that only left four fielders on the rope for the final over. In the 20th over, Tilak hit sixes on the first three balls from Springer and went unbeaten with 44 off 18, while Iyer got 40 off 18.

The beginning of India's defense could not have been better. In the first over, Mayank Yadav had Pooran top-edging a pull and then got Shimron Hetmyer first ball with a 144kph delivery that jagged back onto middle stump.

But from then on, the tide turned. Hope took Axar Patel for two sixes and a four in the fourth over, and Rovman Powell raced to 24 off 13 before Mayank sent his off stump cartwheeling. By the end of the Powerplay, West Indies were 72/3, which was the same as the scoring rate. Rutherford walked in and hit three of his first four balls to the fence.

The partnership that prevailed in the match was the next. Hope, who had scored fifty in the first Twenty20 International after scoring hundreds in consecutive ODIs, scored another in 24 balls. Rutherford easily cleared the large boundaries after being dropped on 39 by Mayank at short fine leg. India even tried to hide the ball wide of off, which worked for a while, but Axar scored 23 in the 12th over and Naman Dhir 18 in the next. Rutherford scored fifty in 24 balls, his third fifty-plus score in T20Is in a row.

Hope and Rutherford made 120 off 54, and by the time Kuldeep hit a flat, wide shot off Rutherford's edge in the 15th over, the target was 72 off 35.

India's opening should have been that. Instead, Romario Shepherd walked out after limping off while bowling in the first innings and ended the match in just a few overs. Hope cleared long-off twice in Kuldeep's 17th over, which went for 24, before Shepherd got down on one knee and hit another over midwicket. Arshdeep Singh went for 17 on his 18th, effectively ending India's chances.

With 10 needed off 12, Hope finished it off in three balls from Axar, slog-sweeping a six to reach 96 and then lofting another over long-off to bring up his hundred and the win with the same stroke.