Shai Hope walked off the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday night with 102 not out from 50 balls, and with a number that makes the series arithmetic awkward for India. Adding the scores The Hindu lists for his seven innings on this tour gives 539 runs, including four hundreds. West Indies beat India by 24 runs in Hyderabad to level the T20I series at 2-2, and the decider is in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Hope will not be around for much of what follows. The Hindu reports that he has been given leave from West Indies’ Test series in Bangladesh, which starts later this month, so Saturday is his last international game for now.

What happened in Hyderabad

India won the toss and chose to bowl on a relaid pitch. West Indies finished on 247 for 3. India were bowled out for 223 in 19.3 overs, according to the Cricbuzz match report.

Jewel Andrew, back from injury, opened with Hope and the pair added 52 off 26 balls, as the ICC’s report records. West Indies were 79 for 1 after the Powerplay. Sportstar called that the joint-highest Powerplay score against India in T20Is, level with New Zealand’s total in Thiruvananthapuram earlier this year. Hope reached fifty off 28 balls and his hundred off 50, finishing with consecutive sixes in the last two balls of the innings. He hit nine sixes and four fours in all.

Sherfane Rutherford made an unbeaten 49 off 26, and the two put on 91 for the fourth wicket.

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Shai Hope becomes the fourth man to score 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ runs for the West Indies in T20Is. #INDvWI | #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/qFGWkQxUUC

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Records and a repeating number

It was Hope’s third T20I hundred, the most by a West Indies batter. Outlook India points out that all three finished on 102 not out. The Hindu counted 19 batters with three or more T20I hundreds, and noted that only five men have more than Hope’s three: Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell with five each, and Phil Salt, Karanbir Singh of Austria and Suryakumar Yadav with four each.

The Windies’ own post, embedded above, marked a separate milestone: he is now the fourth West Indian to pass 2,000 T20I runs.

Two of the tour’s four hundreds came in the ODIs, which India won 2-1. His 162 not out in the third ODI came in what The Hindu describes as West Indies’ highest successful run chase in ODI history. The second T20I in Ranchi, where he made 102 not out off 45, was the first of his two hundreds in this format on the tour.

Paul turned the chase

India’s reply began as fast as West Indies’ had. They were 50 without loss in three overs, with Sanju Samson reaching fifty off 20 balls, a joint-fastest T20I fifty for him according to Sportstar. He made 56 off 23.

Keemo Paul then removed Samson and, a few balls later, Ishan Kishan. Gudakesh Motie dismissed Abhishek Sharma (29) and Naman Dhir (0) off consecutive balls, leaving India needing 116 from 48. Tilak Varma (43) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) added 70 in 5.2 overs per Cricbuzz, and brought the target down to 48 off 19 before Romario Shepherd dismissed Tilak.

Samson told Cricinfo: “The turning point of the match was when Tilak got out.” Paul finished with 5 for 41, his second career T20I five-wicket haul according to the ICC. Cricbuzz noted it was the first time West Indies had defended a total against India in India in T20Is, after six failed attempts.

“I think all the guys, we back our skills and we feel we could beat any team on our day,” Paul said afterwards, quoted by the ICC.

India’s bowling

The numbers explain the gloom around the home side. Mayank Yadav and Arshdeep Singh each went for 52 in four overs, and Axar Patel for 45, as Cricbuzz and the ICC’s reports show. The ICC says Prince Yadav, who took 1 for 36, was the only Indian bowler to concede fewer than ten an over.

Captain Shreyas Iyer said: “We were unfortunate we couldn’t execute our plans in bowling and that’s where we fell a bit short.” That echoes what coach Gautam Gambhir said after Ranchi, when this site covered his warning to the bowlers.

Asked about Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Samson said: “There is no replacement for Jasprit Bumrah. He is a once-in-a-generation kind of bowler, and we are very lucky to have him.” He added that young bowlers needed backing, naming Arshdeep and Prince Yadav.

There is a selection question as well. Kuldeep Yadav played the first two T20Is and was then left out, and Ravichandran Ashwin has publicly questioned that decision. The Hindu notes that Hope fell to Kuldeep twice in the first two ODIs.

The Hindu describes Hope’s method as orthodox rather than flashy: he uses the straight field against the pacers in particular, and clears the ropes without losing shape. That fits the pattern in Hyderabad, where Cricbuzz says he was ruthless against anything too full and hittable, and Naman Dhir gave away 19 runs in his only over.

A press conference in March

Hope’s run has a history. In a T20 World Cup knockout match at Eden Gardens this March, he made 32 off 33 balls, and West Indies, on 195 for 4, lost by five wickets to an unbeaten 97 from Samson. The Hindu’s R. Kaushik recalls the questioning Hope faced afterwards about his strike rate, with West Indies at 45 in the Powerplay.

Kaushik writes that Hope seems to have taken the criticism to heart. The tour numbers are an answer of a kind: a 45-ball hundred in Ranchi and a 50-ball one in Hyderabad.

Arshdeep’s shoulder and the decider

India have a fitness concern. In the final over, Arshdeep was hit on the left shoulder by a short ball from Shamar Joseph, stayed to face one more delivery and then retired hurt. “Arshdeep is putting ice on his shoulder,” Samson said, quoted by Cricinfo. Arshdeep was Player of the Match in the third T20I in Indore, where India won by 14 runs, and he bowled Hope there.

The series so far, per the ICC: India won in Lucknow by eight wickets, West Indies in Ranchi by six wickets, India in Indore by 14 runs, and West Indies in Hyderabad by 24. Our earlier piece on Iyer’s 42-ball hundred covers the start of the series, and the India cricket section has the rest.

A series win would also carry weight for West Indies. The Hindu notes it would be their second bilateral series victory over India in three years, after a 3-2 win in August 2023.

Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium has a history of favouring batters, The Hindu notes, so another high score is on the cards. More tour coverage sits in our cricket section.

The fifth T20I is on Saturday, 17 October, in Bengaluru. Hope, according to The Hindu, then steps away from the Bangladesh Tests.

Sources: Cricbuzz, ICC, The Hindu, Sportstar, Cricinfo, Outlook India, Wikipedia.

Photo: Dave Morton / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain