Bridgetown – An unbeaten half-century from their captain Shai Hope and his unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Keacy Carty carried West Indies to a redeeming, series-levelling six-wicket win against India in the second One-day International on Saturday in Barbados.
Hope gathered only two fours and two sixes in the top score of 63 not out from 80 balls to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, and Carty supported with 48 from 65 balls, as the Caribbean side successfully chased 182 under heavy skies at Kensington Oval.
Hope and Carty defied the gloom of the weather and the sins of the past few months that included failure to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India to put on 91 unbroken and take West Indies to a morale-boosting win.
They came together with the hosts 91 for four in the 17th over, and plenty of time and opportunity for them to script a memorable end to the contest. They did not lose sight of the task, curbing their natural instincts and choosing hard running between the wickets to get them over the finish line.
Carty, 26, the West Indies Under-19 World Cup winner, had the privilege of formalising the result with 80 balls remaining, ending the match with back-to-back boundaries – guided to third-man and slapped over mid-off – off stand-in India captain Hardik Pandya.
The result kept the three-match series alive after India won the first ODI by five wickets two days prior at the same venue, and sets up a mouth-watering finale in the historic third ODI on Tuesday, the first ODI to be staged at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in the southern community of Tarouba in the neighbouring island of Trinidad.
Summarised scores:
India 181 off 40.5 overs (Ishan Kishan 55, Shubman Gill 34, Suryakumar Yadav 24; Gudakesh Motie 3-36, Romario Shepherd 3-37, Alzarri Joseph 2-35). West Indies 182 for four off 36.4 overs (Shai Hope 63 not out, Keacy Carty 48 not out, Kyle Mayers 36; Shardul Thaku 3-42). West Indies won by six wickets. (CMC)