India host West Indies in the decisive fifth and final Twenty20 International on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The match begins at 7pm local time, which is 13:30 GMT. The five-match series is level at 2-2 going into the game, after what has been described as one of the most compelling white-ball tours in recent memory.
The tourists have produced record-breaking performances that have pushed the T20 World Cup holders to the limit. The series has been defined largely by the form of West Indies captain Shai Hope.
Shai Hope’s record-breaking run in the ODI series
The tour opened with a three-match One-Day International series, which India took with an unassailable lead after winning their first two matches by eight wickets in Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati. In the third match in New Chandigarh, India posted a mammoth 351-7 from their 50 overs, thanks largely to KL Rahul’s 129 off 87 balls. India would have believed that total was enough to win.
Hope had other ideas. The opener struck an unbeaten 162 off 143 balls to lead his side to a five-wicket win. It was the highest ODI run chase by West Indies.
Twenty20 series swings back and forth
India responded in the first T20, winning with 5.2 overs to spare to put the ODI defeat behind them. West Indies were bowled out for 171 despite fifties from Hope and Sherfane Rutherford, while Naman Dhir took three wickets for the hosts.
In the second match, Hope hit an unbeaten 102 off only 45 balls. His nine sixes and six boundaries helped West Indies finish on 252-4 in reply to India’s 249-5, their highest successful Twenty20 run chase.
India restored their series lead in the third match, winning by a narrow 14 runs. Abhishek Sharma’s 69 off 30 balls led them to 223, and Arshdeep Singh took three wickets as West Indies were restricted to 209-7.
The fourth match belonged to Hope again. The wicketkeeper-batter scored his second century of the series, an unbeaten 102, as the tourists made 247-3 after being put in to bat. His nine sixes and four fours were a record tally for a West Indies batter in a T20 International.
The total was the second-highest first-innings score in T20s against India, behind England’s 257-3 in Southampton this year. Sanju Samson’s 56 off 23 balls gave India a strong start, but Keemo Paul’s five-wicket haul took West Indies to a 24-run win that levelled the series.
Hope joked after the match that he may have to pay excess baggage fees after collecting his third Player of the Match award of the tour. “To be honest, they are a bit heavy, and we have got to look at the luggage weight,” he said. “I think we are going to have some problems going back home.”
Squads named for the Bengaluru decider
Both sides have named their teams for the final match. The squads are as follows.
- India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh
- West Indies: Shai Hope (captain and wicketkeeper), Jewel Andrew, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Shamar Springer, Keemo Paul, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie
