Hope, Rutherford star as WI level series

RANCHI, India (CMC):

West Indies produced the highest successful run chase in their men’s T20 International (T20I) history, and the second-highest in the format, as Shai Hope’s unbeaten 102 off 45 balls and Sherfane Rutherford’s 84 off 37 powered them past India’s 249-5 with six wickets in hand, levelling the five-match series 1-1 here yesterday.

India’s massive total, built on Sanju Samson’s 82 and a ferocious finish from Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma, proved too little on a dewy surface highway in Ranchi.

The 501 runs scored on the night made it the second-highest aggregate in men’s T20Is, but the gap between the sides came down to some typical Caribbean big hitting.

West Indies struck 20 sixes to India’s 13, with nine of them coming off Hope’s bat. The dew, as Hope had predicted at the toss, did the rest, and India’s spinners bore the brunt: Axar Patel conceded 63 in 3.3 overs, while Kuldeep Yadav went for 53 in four.

After Hope won the toss and sent India in, the evening initially seemed headed in one direction, with West Indies undoing their own efforts through poor fielding.

Samson, under pressure after a lean run, was scratchy early, edging his first boundary past the keeper before being dropped by Kamil Pooran at cover when he was just on six.

He punished the free hit from Akeal Hosein over long-on almost immediately. Two overs later, he took Hosein for two sixes and two fours in a 22-run over.

A second drop, at mid-off on 42, was followed by a 21-ball fifty, the joint-fastest by an Indian against West Indies.

With Ishan Kishan cracking 43 off 22 on his home ground, the pair added 97 in 43 balls, and India reached halfway at 127-1.

Roston Chase, who finished with 3 for 24, removed Abhishek Sharma, bowled Kishan with one that stayed low, and had Shivam Dube dragging on.

India managed only 42-3 between overs 11 and 15, a period that saw Samson upper-cut a Shamar Springer slower ball straight to a squarer-than-usual third man for 82.

Iyer, fresh from his maiden 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 left only four fielders on the rope for the final over.

Tilak hit Springer’s first three balls of the 20th over for sixes and finished unbeaten on 44 off 18, while Iyer made 40 off 18.

India could not have asked for a better start to the defence. 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 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.

Rutherford walked in and hit three of his first four balls to the fence, and by the end of the Powerplay West Indies were 72-3, at par with the scoring rate.

What followed was the partnership that won the match. Hope, who had followed back-to-back ODI hundreds with a fifty in the first T20I, reached another in 24 balls.