Captain Shai Hope’s unbeaten 102 off 45 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford’s explosive 84 and Romario Shepherd’s quickfire 34*, powered West Indies to a six-wicket win over India in the second T20I off the five-match series at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Friday.
Despite Sharma’s wicket, Samson took charge, attacking both pace and spin. Shamar Springer then dismissed Samson in the 15th over. However, despite the wickets, captain and the centurion from the series opener, Shreyas Iyer, and Tilak Varma kept the scoring rate high.
After India posted 249/5 in 20 overs, powered by Sanju Samson’s 82 off 41 balls and contributions from Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma, West Indies captain Shai Hope led the chase alongside Sherfane Rutherford, who scored 84 off 37 balls, and Romario Shepherd, who remained unbeaten on 34 off 13 deliveries. The visitors reached 252/4 in 18.3 overs to level the five-match series 1-1. India lost opener Abhishek Sharma early in the fourth over as he departed after scoring 20 runs off 12 balls. He brought up his half-century in just 21 balls and went on to score 82 off 41 deliveries, hitting nine fours and four sixes. Roston Chase brought West Indies back into the game by dismissing Kishan and Shivam Dube, who scored seven off 10 balls. Chase had figures of 3/24 in his four overs. Iyer and Varma combined to score 21 runs off the 18th over bowled by Shamar Springer as India reached 215/4 in 18 overs.
Captain Shai Hope and Rovman Powell then steadied the innings, taking the visitors to 58/2 in five overs. Powell scored 24 off 13 balls, including four boundaries and a six, before Mayank returned to dismiss him in the sixth over. Earlier in the match, West Indies captain Shai Hope opted to bowl after winning the toss, and India’s batters attacked from the start and scored at more than 12 runs per over to finish at 249/5 in 20 overs.
