Captain of the West Indies and keeper-batter Shai Hope stole the show once again as he dazzled under the lights in Ranchi. Shai Hope had already stunned India in the 3rd ODI in New Chandigarh, and he has done it again in this 2nd T20I in Ranchi to level the series 1-1. But before Hope took centre stage in Ranchi, it was another keeper-batter to take centre stage as Sanju Samson blazed to a 41-ball 82 and the finishing kick by captain Shreyas Iyer and vice-captain Tilak Varma helped India post a massive 249/5 in 20 overs.
In the chase, a target of 250 was not enough, as West Indies lost a couple of early wickets, but that did not faze Shai Hope at all. He first combined with Rovman Powell for a quick partnership and then stitched a magnificent 120-run stand with Sherfane Rutherford, who rode his luck a little bit as he scored 84. Romario Shepherd gave the finishing kick, but Hope was the cornerstone of the victory as his unbeaten ton led the side to a win with 9 balls to spare and level the series 1-1 with 3 games left to play in the series.
Sanju Samson’s Blitzkrieg Half-Century powered India to 249/5 in 20 overs.Â
Put into bat first on a flat deck with heavy dew around, Abhishek Sharma and keeper batter Sanju Samson came out to open the batting for India while Akeal Hosein had the new ball in hand for the West Indies. India got off to a fast start as Abhishek was quick out of the blocks. Sanju was slow off the blocks and got a lifeline when batting on 6*, as Kamil Pooran dropped a catch in the covers. The score was around 25 in the third over. Samson would make West Indies pay later on.
The opening duo added 42 for the first wicket inside 4 overs before Abhishek fell for 20 off 12 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name to Roston Chase. Ishan Kishan came out to bat next and looked scratchy out there. Sanju got going after Abhishek fell and exploded in the last two overs of the power play. He completed his fifty in quick time as India blazed away to 79/1 in 6 overs of power play.
The duo carried on to maximise the middle phase of the game as well. They took the score to 127/1 in 10 overs with Ishan also getting into the groove. The duo added 97 runs off 43 balls for the second wicket before Ishan fell for 43 off 22 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes to his name, to Chase, who cleaned him up. Shivam Dube came out to bat next and was a struggle for the southpaw out there.
Samson scored the bulk of the runs while Dube was struggling and managed a boundary out of nowhere. The duo added 19 runs for the third wicket before Dube fell for 7 off 10 balls with one four to his name to Chase, who had 3 to his name. Captain Shreyas Iyer came out to bat next and looked fluent from the get-go. Just 4 runs were added to the tally before Samson, the set batter, fell for a well-made 82 off 41 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes to his name to Shamar Springer. Tilak Varma came out to bat next.
India reached 169/4 in 15 overs, and they needed a finishing kick in the last 5 overs. They got that from Iyer and Tilak in the backend of the innings. The duo tore apart the West Indies bowling in the end overs after the visitors pulled things back in overs 11-15. But India had the game to go berserk, and the captain and vice-captain did exactly that. The duo complemented each other well to score 40s each in quick time.
The duo added 83 runs in just 33 balls to take the score close to 250. In the end, with two balls left in the innings, Shreyas fell for 40 off 18 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Springer. Naman Dhir came out to face the final ball of the innings and hit the first and only ball away to the fence to finish things off in style. India finished with a massive 249/5 in 20 overs with Tilak unbeaten on 44 off 18 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes to his name while Naman was unbeaten on 4 off 1 ball. 9 extras were given by the fielding side.
Amidst all the chaos, Roston Chase was the pick of the bowlers for West Indies with figures of 3/24 in 4 overs. Shamar Springer finished with 2/64 in 4 overs. Akeal Hosein finished with 0/46 in 3 overs. Romario Shepherd finished with 0/47 in 3.4 overs. Gudakesh Motie finished with 0/21 in 2 overs. Shamar Joseph finished with 0/39 in 3 overs. Rovman Powell gave away 7 runs in the 2 balls he had to bowl. This meant that West Indies needed 250 runs to win off 20 overs to make it 1-1 in the 5-match T20I series.
Shai Hope’s majestic ton & Sherfane Rutherford’s blazing knock destroy India in the chase.Â
Chasing a massive 250 for the win to level the series 1-1, captain Shai Hope opened the batting with Kamil Pooran while Mayank Yadav had the ball in hand for India. Hope nearly fell first ball as a tough catch was dropped off the first ball of the innings by the bowler himself. Pooran hit a boundary as the opening duo could put only 5 runs for the first wicket before Pooran fell for 4 off 2 balls with one four to his name to Mayank Yadav. Shimron Hetmyer came out to bat next.
Mayank had two in two balls as Hetmyer was cleaned up for a golden duck as Mayank was on a hat-trick. Rovman Powell came out to bat next and survived the hat-trick ball. The duo started the counterattack and kept the pressure on the Indians. They put on 53 runs in quick time and took the team’s score to 58 inside 5 overs before Powell fell for 24 off 13 balls with 4 fours and one six to his name, to Mayank, who cleaned him up. Sherfane Rutherford came out to bat next and was off the blocks quickly.
The duo took West Indies to 72/3 in 6 overs of power play. From thereon, it was the Hope-Rutherford show as they obliterated the Indian bowlers in dewy conditions. The bowlers were clueless. Rutherford was lucky as, at the end of the 10th over, Mayank dropped him off Kuldeep at short fine leg. Rutherford got into beast mode after that and tore apart the Indian bowling. This partnership aced the middle phase, and Indian bowlers went on a leather hunt. Hope was happy to play the second fiddle, while Rutherford was in the zone.
Both completed their fifties and went into overdrive. The duo added 120 runs off just 9 overs to change the complexion of the game before Rutherford finally fell for 84 off 37 balls with 7 fours and 7 sixes to his name to Kuldeep Yadav. Romario Shepherd came out to bat next. Hope, who was batting in the 60s, took on the role of the aggressor after this and kept the tempo going, allowing Shepherd to take his time for the first 5-6 balls before he too went into the zone.
Hope and Shepherd went berserk towards the end, with the latter relieving all the pressure from Hope. Kuldeep was taken to the cleaners in his final over of the spell as dewy conditions became tough for the bowlers. The duo of Hope and Shepherd put on an unbroken stand of 74 runs off 26 balls to finish the game in style. Shepherd did all the scoring towards the end. But Hope timed it to perfection as well, as he hit two sixes off the first three balls, which included a dot ball in between, to get to his ton and seal the game for the West Indies.
In the end, captain Shai Hope remained unbeaten on 102 off 45 balls with 6 fours and 9 sixes to his name, while Shepherd remained unbeaten on 34 off 13 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes to his name. 4 extras were given by the Indians. West Indies finished with 252/4 in 18.3 overs.
The Indian bowlers went on a leather hunt, to say the least, as they failed to defend an imposing score on the board. Mayank Yadav bowled well early on and finished with 3/36 in 3 overs. Kuldeep Yadav finished with 1/53 in 4 overs, but he too went the distance towards the end. Arshdeep Singh finished with 0/45 in 4 overs. Axar Patel went for 63 runs in 3.3 overs. Shivam Dube finished with 0/30 in 2 overs. Naman Dhir finished with 0/25 in 2 overs. So, West Indies upstaged India by 6 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Shai Hope was awarded the Player of the Match Award.
What Lies Ahead.Â
So, West Indies have stormed back to level the series 1-1 with three games to spare. The next T20I takes place on Sunday at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. It’s set to be another batting paradise if we look at history. Who will get the bragging rights with the series level at 3 games left? Only time will tell, and we shall see what happens on Sunday.
Also Read: IND VS WI: Sanju Samson’s Blitzkrieg Wallops West Indies