Shai Hope has stayed unbeaten three times on this tour of India. Those are the three matches that West Indies have managed to win. The latest win has helped force a decider on what is proving to be a landmark T20I series for them. Hope became the first West Indies player to three T20I hundreds, each of the four other batters that batted scored between 21 and 49, Keemo Paul became the first West Indies bowler to multiple T20 five-fors, and West Indies registered their first successful defence of the tour..

It is a testament to the hitting prowess of the modern batters that a total of 470 runs were scored on the night despite there being some sort of assistance for bowling in both innings. On a relaid Hyderabad surface, which was quite dry, India managed to slow West Indies down with some tail on the ball. West Indies opted to use the dryness differently, going into the surface and using the lack of dew and big square boundaries to survive a Sanju Samson blitz of 56 off 23.

From 50 for 0 in three overs, West Indies strung together 12 consecutive overs that went for 13 or under. For the first time in the series, they took every catch that came their way. Paul’s five-for and a double-wicket over for Gudakesh Motie were the icing on the cake.

Hope has help

For the first time this series, Hope didn’t have to do all the running at the start. Jewel Andrew, in for Kamil Pooran, got stuck into Arshdeep Singh’s first over, thus negating the man who neutralised Hope in the last match. Hope returned the favour by taking down Mayank Yadav, who had bowled a tight first over to Andrew.

Shimron Hetmyer raced away to 17 off 5 to make it 79 for 1 in the powerplay with Arshdeep’s figures reading 2-0-36-0. When Hope took 19 off Naman Dhir’s first over, making it 109 for 1 in eight overs, India were in a world of trouble.

A slight slowdown ensued with Prince Yadav finding the wicket of Hetmyer and the ball reversing just a little bit. Rovman Powell, out to three low scores already, gave himself some time here, but found momentum with four, six and four in Axar Patel’s last over. Still, going into the death overs, the last eight overs had got them just 76 runs as India kept finding the wide yorker not minding the extra runs through wides.

Sherfane Rutherford took charge in Mayank’s last over, letting Hope find a second wind just in time to hit the last two balls of the innings for sixes to go from 90 to 102 in 50 balls. India went for 62 in the last four without bowling badly.

Samson in the mood

Initially it looked like Samson wanted to just keep Abhishek Sharma away from Roston Chase, but it soon turned into a silken but devastating half-century inside the third over. Abhishek faced only three balls in the first three overs as Samson hit four sixes and six fours. It looked like India were well on their way to make this a tour on which both sides registered their highest-successful chases in both formats.

Better call Paul

It took a special catch from Hetmyer to start the turnaround, which was a refreshing change after an ordinary series in the field for most of the fielders. Paul cramped Samson up with a short ball, he still managed a pretty good connection on the hook, but Hetmyer took the catch, threw the ball in the air, stepped over the fence and walked back in to take it calmly. Ishan Kishan started with a sweetly timed six off a slower ball, but couldn’t time the next on-pace ball, holing out to deep midwicket.

With smart bowling changes and changes of pace, West Indies tied down Abhishek and Shreyas Iyer. That is only relatively speaking because the partnership managed 30 in 3.4 overs, but in the context of the match it was damaging for India.

A key moment arrived when Hope decided he couldn’t delay the introduction of Motie too much even though there were two intentful left-hand batters in the middle. India needed 122 off the last nine at this point. Abhishek hit the first ball for a four. The pressure was on, but the pitch provided enough grip for Motie to be able to draw a false shot big enough for a comfortable catch at long-off. He proceeded with a beauty to have Dhir stumped for a golden duck.

Romario shepherds West Indies home

At 132 for 5, it was now the test of the batting depth that India keep insisting on. Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy were made to work hard to stay alive in the match before a wayward 16th over from Shamar Joseph brought India right back in. Reddy hit two sixes in this 21-run over to make it 59 needed off the last four, fewer than what West Indies scored in their death overs.

Romario Shepherd, back after an injury-forced absence last match, tried to start the 17th with a yorker, but Varma smacked the low full toss clean for a six. Shepherd spent the rest of the over bowling into the surface with one yorker as a change-up, ending the over with a skyer from Varma to turn the match decisively.

Shamar Springer bowled the 18th expertly to put it beyond India, and Paul returned to take three wickets in the 19th over. The match ended with a blow to Arshdeep’s bicep with India opting to not expose him to further damage.