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. West Indies chased down India’s 249 with six wickets in hand and nine balls to spare.
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 to 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.
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.
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 Tilak providing the grand finish with a hat-trick of sixes in the final over, which went for 23.
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.
Rutherford took only one sighter before rearranging Mayank's figures with two fours and a six to end the powerplay at 72 for 3. Hope had already taken care of Axar Patel, India's best powerplay bowler since the World Cup, in the fourth over by playing him like a medium pacer and hitting him for two sixes and a four.
The end of the powerplay meant naught to West Indies as they kept up the assault from both ends. Rutherford was the more brutal one, scoring 84 in the 120-run stand, just allowing for Hope to preserve some breath for the home stretch. Not that Hope was slow in this partnership, getting 33 off 17, but Rutherford was something to behold, especially in taking 23 off Axar's second over.
India could have got Rutherford on 39 off 19 but Mayank dropped a sitter off Kuldeep Yadav with 128 needed off the last 10.
By the time Kuldeep finally got Rutherford out four overs later, his seven sixes and seven fours had brought West Indies' ask down to 72 off 35. India's tactics again defied convention, bowling four overs of spin in what turned out to be the last five overs of the match. Mayank ended the night at 3-0-36-3.
Again it is debatable if that converted chance or if a different sequencing of bowlers would have made any difference to the eventual outcome. Hope just took his hitting to the next level, and Romario Shepherd assisted him ably with 34 off 13. (Cricinfo)