Hope’s 45-Ball Century Powers West Indies to Record 250 Chase Against India as Ranchi Thriller Levels Series 1-1

Hope’s Hundred and Rutherford’s Blitz

The West Indies produced one of the most astonishing run chases in T20 international history on Friday night, overhauling India’s 249 for 5 to win the second T20 international in Ranchi by six wickets and square the five-match series at 1-1.

Captain Shai Hope struck an unbeaten 102 from 45 balls — his maiden T20I century — and shared a record 120-run fourth-wicket partnership with Sherfane Rutherford, who bludgeoned 84 off 37 deliveries, as the visitors reached 252 for 4 with nine balls to spare, according to Reuters.

It is the second-highest successful run chase in men’s T20I history, surpassed only by South Africa’s pursuit of 259 against the West Indies at Centurion in 2023, and the highest chase the West Indies have ever completed in the format. The win also ended India’s 10-match winning streak in T20 internationals under captain Shreyas Iyer.

West Indies won the toss at the JSCA International Stadium Complex and chose to field, a decision that looked inspired when India were briefly checked, then inspired in a very different way when the bowlers watched 250 get gunned down with almost two overs to spare.

India’s 249 Built on Samson’s Fire and a Death-Overs Surge

India’s innings had looked more than enough for most of the night. After being sent in, the hosts posted 249 for 5 in their 20 overs, built around Sanju Samson’s 41-ball 82 and a ferocious finish from captain Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma.

Samson and Abhishek Sharma raced to 42 in less than four overs for the opening wicket before Roston Chase halted the early surge by dismissing Sharma for 20, according to Reuters. Chase would finish as the West Indies’ most effective bowler, later removing Ishan Kishan for 43 and Shivam Dube, while Shamar Springer struck with the key wicket of Samson.

At the death, Iyer and Varma put on 83 runs from just 32 balls, with Iyer making 40 before falling off the penultimate delivery of the innings and Varma finishing unbeaten on 44 from 18 deliveries. India’s total was their second-highest of the evening’s record books — a mountain by any normal measure of the format.

It was not enough. Not on this night, not against this version of Shai Hope.

From 5 for 2 to 252 for 4: The Great Escape

The West Indies’ chase nearly died in its first over. Paceman Mayank Yadav removed Kamil Pooran — caught by substitute Ravi Bishnoi — and Shimron Hetmyer with successive deliveries to start the innings, Hetmyer gone for a golden duck. At 5 for 2, Ranchi believed India had the game by the scruff of the neck.

Hope and Rovman Powell answered with an all-out counter-attack, stitching a blistering 53-run stand in just 27 balls to get the visitors to the 50-run mark in 4.4 overs. Mayank returned in the sixth over to break the stand, pegging back Powell’s off stump for a 13-ball 24, and would finish with 3 for 36. The West Indies closed the Powerplay at 72 for 3, and Hope was just warming up.

Hope brought up his half-century off just 24 deliveries, shortly before Rutherford reached the milestone in the identical number of balls. The two recorded the joint-second-fastest half-centuries by West Indies batters against India in T20Is, behind only Johnson Charles’s 20-ball effort in 2016, according to IANS.

Their 120-run stand for the fourth wicket was the biggest fourth-wicket partnership for the West Indies in T20Is and the third biggest for the fourth wicket against India in the format. Rutherford, who finished with seven fours and seven sixes, eventually fell to Kuldeep Yadav for 84 — but not before surviving a spilled straightforward chance at short fine leg by Mayank Yadav on 38, a reprieve he capitalised on with interest, according to Reuters.

Hope remained unfazed, anchoring the chase while maintaining the required rate, and combined with Romario Shepherd — whose unbeaten 34 off 13 balls provided the finishing impetus — to guide the visitors home. Hope’s century, the fastest T20I hundred by a West Indian against India and the second-quickest by a West Indian in the format behind Charles’s 39-ball effort against South Africa in 2023, sealed Player of the Match honours.

What They Said

Hope credited partnerships and Rutherford’s fireworks after the victory, admitting the chase had become challenging when the visitors were reduced to 5 for 2, but insisting that batting in India always gave a side belief, according to IANS.

Iyer, meanwhile, was left to wrestle with the arithmetic of a night when 249 was not enough. Speaking after the defeat, he admitted the West Indies batters were too good on the day but lamented the dew factor in Ranchi, telling Cricbuzz that “you cannot put a number to it” when setting a target, since dew played a massive role in the chase.

The Wider Picture

The result flips the series narrative entirely. Just three nights earlier, India had cruised to an eight-wicket win in the first T20I at Lucknow, where Iyer’s 102 off 43 balls sealed a routine chase of 172. This was something else entirely — a night when both teams produced totals that would win almost any T20 international ever played, and one of them still lost.

For the West Indies, the victory caps a remarkable tour fightback. India had dominated the early exchanges of the white-ball leg, including a record 406 chase to seal the ODI series, before the visitors took the third ODI. Now, with the series level at 1-1, the third T20I in Indore on Sunday has become a decider in all but name for momentum.

Analysis: Why It Matters

This was not just a great chase; it was a night that asked serious questions about what a safe total even means in modern T20 cricket.

1. The number that stopped mattering. Shreyas Iyer’s post-match remark — that “you cannot put a number to it” — is the most honest line of the series so far. India posted 249, a total that had been successfully defended almost everywhere, and watched it disappear with nine balls to spare. Dew was the great equaliser: a wet ball neuters spinners, flattens bounce and turns yorkers into low full tosses. When the toss gives the chasing side that much assistance, first-innings planning needs a rethink — not bigger totals, which India already had, but bowling plans built for a skating rink.

2. The anatomy of a counter-attack. From 5 for 2, most sides retrench. The West Indies did the opposite: Hope and Powell’s 53-run stand in 27 balls told India that the pitch, the dew and the small margins of Ranchi were all aligned with aggression. Hope’s hundred is the headline, but his gear management was the masterclass — a 24-ball fifty followed by another 21 balls to reach three figures, never letting the required rate balloon. This was an anchor who learned to finish.

3. The dropped catch on 38. Every great chase has its hinge moment. Mayank Yadav, the man who had ripped the top order apart in the first over, spilled Rutherford at short fine leg with the left-hander on 38. Rutherford added 46 more runs after the reprieve. Cricket’s cruellest arithmetic: one catch, 46 runs, a record chase, a lost match.

4. India’s bowling problem is real. Axar Patel was clobbered for 63 runs in 3.3 overs, Kuldeep Yadav conceded 53 in his four and Arshdeep Singh went for 45. Two of India’s premier spinners had their worst nights of the year on the same evening — and that, more than the dew, is the concern for the team management. Mayank’s 3 for 36 was the lone bright spot. Ahead of Indore, India must decide whether this was a one-off dew disaster or a combination problem: their spin-heavy attack is built for grip, and there is no grip under dew.

5. A West Indies renaissance is no longer a rumour. This was the West Indies’ highest successful T20I chase, and it came against the strongest white-ball side in world cricket, in India, after being 5 for 2. Hope is becoming the leader his talent promised, Rutherford has now posted three consecutive 50-plus scores, and the middle order’s belief is visibly growing. The Caribbean side’s white-ball rebuild has had false dawns before — but nights like Ranchi are how those rebuilds turn into something permanent.

6. The series is now the best of the year. At 1-1 with three to play, and both teams producing 250-run performances in the same game, the Indore third T20I on Sunday arrives as a genuine event. India’s streak is gone; the West Indies’ confidence is soaring; the margin between the sides, on this evidence, is a dropped catch.

What to Watch Next

1. Indore, Sunday: The third T20I at Holkar Stadium arrives with the series poised at 1-1 and both attacks under scrutiny. Another dew-affected evening could produce a similar shootout.

2. India’s bowling combination: Does India persist with the spin-heavy attack or bring in seam options? The management’s call will reveal how much of Ranchi they blame on the conditions.

3. Rutherford’s form line: Three consecutive fifties, an 84 off 37 at a strike rate north of 225 — the left-hander is becoming the West Indies’ most dangerous T20 batter.

4. Hope’s captaincy arc: A maiden T20I century, a record chase, a series levelled from the rubble of 5 for 2. Hope is building a legacy game by game.

Sources

• Reuters — Hope century powers West Indies past India to level T20 series
• IANS — 2nd T20I: Hope, Rutherford power West Indies to record chase against India in Ranchi
• IANS — Hope credits partnerships, Rutherford’s fireworks after WI script record chase