Hope and Rutherford hunt down 250, West Indies level series
West Indies (Hope 102*, Rutherford 84; Mayank 3-36) beat India 249 for 5 (Samson 82, Tilak 44; Chase 3-24) by 6 wickets
Hope: “I really believe that we need to bat a lot better in partnerships”
The West Indies are still a six-hitting team. They scorched 20 of them to complete a successful chase of 250 with nine deliveries to spare in the second T20 International against India in Ranchi on Friday.
Nine of them came off the bat of captain Shai Hope, whose unbeaten 102 (45 balls) helped West Indies to their highest successful chase in the format. Hope shared in a tide-turning 120-run fourth-wicket partnership with Sherfane Rutherford to drag the Caribbean side back into the contest.
“The thing about cricket is,” Hope said after the chase, “I really believe that we need to bat a lot better in partnerships. It's something that we tend to lapse on now and again.”
Rutherford was responsible for seven of the maximums Windies scored. After lacing danger man Mayank Yadav for back-to-back fours and a maximum in his first four balls, the left-hander showed no prejudice to pace or spin.
Rutherford was offered a reprieve when he was dropped on 38 by Mayank with the score 121 for three in the 10th over. With the required rate hovering around 13, the question was always how long the West Indies could hit out.
Still, Rutherford took control of the 54-ball stand with calculated strikes from one end, bringing up his fifty in 24 balls to push the West Indies ahead on score comparisons.
Hope spoke of relinquishing control when Rutherford came to the crease.
“Sometimes you've just got to sit back and watch,” Hope said. “Watch him play his shots. In that situation there, as long as we kept going at the rate to keep up with the game, then I didn't need to take any unnecessary risks.”
When Rutherford (84 from 37) was caught behind off Kuldeep Yadav, the West Indies still needed 72 from 35 balls. Hope then re-emerged to stomp out any visions the hosts had of tightening the screws.
He once again found a capable companion, this time in Romario Shepherd (34*), and the two ensured there was no lull in the chase.
They put on 74 unbeaten runs from just 26 balls to continue the onslaught, taking 12 from Axar Patel’s 16th over, before smashing 24 from Kuldeep’s 17th, then 17 more from Arshdeep Singh in the 18th.
Hope, who was ten away from a hundred, needed only three balls from Axar’s 19th to find two maximums, finishing with a raised bat that not only signalled victory for the West Indies at 252 for four but also celebrated a well-deserved hundred.
At what seemed like a lifetime before, the West Indies found themselves at five for two in the first over. Yet Hope said he still had faith the West Indies could pull it off.
“It's going to be a tough chase, but once you chase here in India, you always give yourself a challenge. You always think you're in the game, regardless of what score is on the board.”
Unbelievably, things could have been worse. Mayank put down Hope off a difficult chance off the first ball of the innings before dismissing Kamil Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer in consecutive deliveries. Rovman Powell could have been a hat-trick victim, but his flick fell just short of square leg.
Powell’s luck proved a misfortune for India; he went on to provide the first bit of stability to the West Indian innings alongside Hope. They put on 53 crucial runs from 27 balls for the third wicket to steady the innings before Powell (24 from 13) was bowled by Kuldeep.
In the midst of the carnage, Roston Chase delivered a stunning spell of three for 24 to help restrict India to 249 for five from their allotment.
“On a surface and a field like this, to go out six runs an over is unbelievable,” Hope stated. “He really kept us in the game. It was very difficult conditions to bowl on, so the way he bowled and kept us in the game made it a lot easier for us to chase that score,” he added.