BENGALURU: The high-scoring T20I series between West Indies and India will go the distance in terms of identifying the series winner. The hosts had the chance to seal the series in the fourth game, but the visitors -- who have come to these shores with some outrageous batting power -- took down Shreyas Iyer & Co. in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Shai Hope, one of the best white-ball batters in the game today, continued his run-making as his fourth 100 in seven games across formats lifted the tourists to an imposing 3/247 in their 20 overs. India, defending world champions in this format in these conditions, gave a good account of themselves but found the required run rate too hot to handle in the back end of the chase. Eventually, they lost the contest by 23 runs.
The series will now be decided in Bengaluru on Saturday. While the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium is expected to favour the willow wielders, there could be some weather around, adding to the tension.
It was pristine conditions when the tourists were asked to bat first at one of the pitches on the freshly relaid square at the Stadium. In seasons past, the venue in Hyderabad has been responsible for some recent batting records in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Fears that batters would find it different dissipated minutes after the start of the game as Jewel Andrew climbed into Arshdeep Singh early doors. If there's no swing on offer, Singh can become a touch predictable, and he travelled.
Even though Andrew left soon after, Hope, who marries finesse with power these days, began to blossom. While the opener opened up with a few boundaries, Shimron Hetmyer’s violent 12-ball 33 at one-drop was what really set the innings up for them in terms of giving it a platform. He didn’t allow the bowlers to settle post the powerplay. Sure, he was dismissed in the ninth over. But read between the lines, and he had already scored 16 from seven balls outside the powerplay, including two boundaries off Axar Patel and a six off Naman Dhir.
While Hope had his moment under the lights — he his sixes off the last two balls of the West Indies innings to reach a ton — Sherfane Rutherford was the one who ignited the innings at the back end. While Rovman Powell just couldn’t get going, Rutherford, another player who knows these conditions, hit boundaries off Prince Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Mayank Yadav and Singh. He was particularly severe against Yadav with a sequence of 6, 4, 6 in the 17th over.
While the wicket itself was rather flat, the Indian pacers were perhaps a touch straight and in the slot more often than not. It gave the batters the chance to access the boundaries in front of the wicket, something they repeatedly did with abandon. In a bowling attack without Jasprit Bumrah, some of the other pacers were off their radar at the death and it showed as they bled 62 runs off the last four overs.
The hosts needed a rapid opening stand to be in with a shout and it was exactly what Sanju Samson gave them. The opener’s 23-ball 56 was reminiscent of his shows at the World Cup but once he departed in front of a packed stadium, the visitors slowly but surely gained a foothold in the contest. On a surface where the odd ball was gripping — there was no dew and it helped the bowlers — the West Indian spinners, especially Gudakesh Motie, were able to get into the contest as a force. He was instrumental in removing both Abhishek Sharma and Naman Dhir in the same over.
Tilak Varma and Nitish Reddy provided some late fireworks to raise visions of an unlikely comeback but the contest had already been decided by then.
Brief scores: West Indies 247/3 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 102 not out, Shimron Hetmyer 33, Sherfane Rutherford 49 not out; Prince Yadav 1/36) bt India 223 all out in 19.3 overs (Sanju Samson 56, Tilak Varma 43; Keemo Paul 5/41)