Hope ton, Paul five-for help West Indies level series 2-2

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 one 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, and the bowlers came together to give West Indies 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. A five-for for Keemo Paul and a double-wicket over for Gudakesh Motie were the icing on the cake.