Hyderabad. On the basis of captain Shai Hope’s stormy century and Keemo Paul’s lethal bowling, West Indies defeated India by 24 runs in the fourth T20 International. In the match played on Wednesday at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, West Indies, batting first, scored 247 runs for three wickets. In reply, despite a fast start, the Indian team was all out for 223 runs in 19.4 overs. With this victory, the five-match series is leveled at 2-2.
Chasing the huge target of 248 runs, the Indian team made an aggressive start. The team completed 50 runs in just three overs and recorded its fastest half-century in T-20 international cricket. Sanju Samson attacked the Caribbean bowlers as soon as he arrived. He scored 56 runs in 23 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes. During this time, Samson also completed his 100 sixes in T-20 international cricket.
However, India’s run rate suffered after Samson’s dismissal. Ishan Kishan also returned to the pavilion soon after hitting a six. Captain Shreyas Iyer scored 16 runs in 11 balls, but he failed to play a big innings. Abhishek Sharma scored 29 runs in 24 balls. After his dismissal, Naman Dheer returned on the very next ball without opening the account. Gudakesh Moti took both the wickets. The Indian team came under pressure due to continuous fall of wickets.
After losing five wickets for 130 runs, Tilak Verma and Nitish Kumar Reddy tried to take control of the innings. Both of them kept India’s hopes alive by batting aggressively. Tilak scored 43 runs in 25 balls with the help of two fours and three sixes, while Nitish added 41 runs in 20 balls with the help of one four and four sixes. But the pressure to score runs quickly increased in the last overs. After Tilak’s dismissal, India’s hopes of victory were almost over. The entire team was reduced to 223 runs. For West Indies, Keemo Paul took five wickets for 41 runs and destroyed the Indian batting order.
Earlier, West Indies scored a huge score on the basis of the excellent batting of captain Shai Hope. Hope scored unbeaten 102 runs in 50 balls. His innings included four fours and nine sixes. Shimron Hetmyer strengthened the fast start by scoring 33 runs in 12 balls, while Rovman Powell scored 24 runs in 17 balls. Sharfan Rutherford also batted aggressively and scored unbeaten 49 runs in 26 balls, which included four fours and three sixes. Hope and Rutherford maintained the run pace in the final stages of the innings, taking West Indies to 247 for three.