West Indies 252 for 4 (Hope 102*, Rutherford 84, Mayank 3-36) beat India 249 for 5 (Samson 82, Tilak 44, Chase 3-24) by six wickets
They couldn’t get Shai Hope out at all. After doing the same in ODIs, he led West Indies‘ highest successful T20I chase and the highest-successful chase against India with his second T20I hundred off 45 balls.
Hope wouldn’t have been able to do it without Sherfane Rutherford‘s 84 off 37 after he joined his captain at 58 for 3 in the sixth over. It will get lost in the euphoria, but Roston Chase‘s defensive bowling masterclass of 4-0-24-3 made sure the target didn’t reach the realm of the impossible.
It nearly happened in the World Cup semi-final. Even then Sanju Samson, reprieved early in his innings, played a key role in seemingly batting England out with a total of 253, but it needed Jasprit Bumrah‘s best restrict England to within two hits of a heist. In Ranchi, though, there was no Bumrah after Samson capitalised on a life on 6 and led India with 82 off 41.
This made it five successful chases in five international matches on this tour. Hope’s good work started when he won his first toss on the tour and ended with his eighth and ninth sixes in the 19th over to seal the chase. West Indies scored 204 in boundaries alone, the most they have ever done in a T20I, out-hitting India’s 148.
Chase defends
West Indies started the match with an interesting experiment. Aware perhaps that dew would set in early in the cooler climes of Ranchi, they bowled seven overs of spin and two overs of part-time seam before their two main fast bowlers even came on. In that period, Samson enjoyed two lives and made West Indies pay with characteristic grace.
Chase, though, intercepted cannily with his hard lengths from over the wicket to left-hand batters. He had the dangerous Abhishek Sharma caught at mid-on inside the powerplay and then bowled the eighth over for just seven runs when everything around him was going to pieces.
Even when Shamar Joseph and Shamar Springer were finally introduced, it only served as an outlet to a tied-down Ishan Kishan. He scored 24 off seven balls in these two overs, but Chase came back to knock back his off stump. India then promoted Shivam Dube despite Chase’s success against left-hand batters. Dube managed five off seven from the remaining 11 Chase deliveries, setting India back to 161 for 3 in 14 overs.
Iyer, Varma give India big finish
By now the dew was apparent, and West Indies could bowl five overs of the Shamars in the last six. Springer got Samson out, Joseph bowled a good 16th over, but Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma showed just how good the conditions were for batting, scoring 40s at better than two-runs-per-ball seemingly without hitting a shot in anger. The ball just kept pinging off their bats with Varma providing the grand finish with a hat-trick of sixes in the final over, which went for 23.
Mayank breathes fire
His slower balls travelled for plenty in the first match, which is perhaps why Mayank Yadav decided to bowl high pace and hard lengths only, producing two wickets in the first over and third at the start of the sixth over. Little did India know it would be the last bit of joy for them on the night.
More to follow
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