West Indies’ strong performance continues in the T20 series against India. Despite losing the ODI series, West Indies came back for the second time to level the T20 series. In the fourth T20 match played in Hyderabad, West Indies defeated Team India by 24 runs on the basis of tremendous batting. In this way the 5 match series became equal to 2-2. Windies captain Shay Hope scored his second century in the series, while all-rounder Keemo Paul stopped Team India from reaching the target by taking 5 wickets.
Wednesday, October 14, had started on a good note for the Indian team because it was the birthday of head coach Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir, who completed 45 years of his life, needed just one gift from his team – victory. With the victory in the fourth T20 match in Hyderabad, Team India would have won the series and thus the celebration of coach Gambhir’s birthday would have been doubled. But West Indies captain Shay Hope (102 runs, 50 balls), who has been proving to be a headache for the Indian team on this tour, once again dashed all the expectations.
Hope’s memorable century, others also shine
This time also there was expectation of strong batting in Rajiv Gandhi Stadium and the same happened. After losing the toss, West Indies had to bat first but Captain Hope converted this compulsion into an opportunity. Hope, who scored 2 centuries in the ODI series, also scored his second century in this T20 series. In the second T20, he led the team to victory by hitting a six and scoring a century. This time, batting first, he completed his century by hitting a six on the last ball of the innings.
Apart from Hope, Sharfan Rutherford (49) again batted brilliantly and made a partnership of 91 runs with the captain. Apart from these two, Shimron Hetmyer (33) and Jewel Andrew (21) also contributed to this big score by batting fast. In this way West Indies scored 247 runs against India. Only Prince Yadav (1/36) could bowl effectively for India.
Sanju’s storm, then Chemo Paul changed the match
For Team India, Sanju Samson made an explosive start and scored a half-century in just 20 balls and took the team beyond 50 runs in the third over itself. It seemed that the Indian team would achieve this target but suddenly the story changed in the fourth over. Keemo Paul dismissed Samson and Ishan Kishan in this over. Captain Shreyas Iyer and Abhishek Sharma tried to maintain the pace of runs but failed. Iyer also got out early.
At the same time, Abhishek, who played only 4 balls in the first 5 overs, did not appear to be in full form in such a situation and he also returned to the pavilion in the 12th over. In the same over, Gudakesh Moti gave a big blow to India by dismissing Naman Dheer on the very next ball. India had lost 5 wickets for just 130 runs. But then Tilak Verma and Nitish Kumar Reddy added a solid 70 runs. As soon as Tilak was out in the 17th over, this partnership broke and the hope of victory was also shattered. In the 19th over, Keemo Paul again did wonders and sealed India’s defeat by taking 3 wickets. Team India scored 223 runs.