This was a match that made a mockery of the concept of a safe total. India posted 249-5 — their eighth-highest T20 score ever, powered by Sanju Samson's 82 off 41 and a lower-order detonation from Shreyas Iyer (40 off 18) and Tilak Varma (44 not out off 18). That total should have been enough. It was not remotely enough. Shai Hope made the chase look like a tutorial. His hundred came off 45 balls — his second fifty requiring just 21 deliveries — and featured nine sixes and six fours. This is his third century against India in four innings across T20s and ODIs, which stops being a coincidence and starts being a specific, repeatable dominance. He lost three partners in the powerplay, including Kamil Pooran on 4 and Shimron Hetmyer for a golden duck, and simply refused to adjust his tempo. Sherfane Rutherford's 84 off 37 balls was the perfect complement — seven sixes, seven fours, zero interest in anchoring. Their partnership of 120 off 54 balls was the decisive passage of play. When Kuldeep Yadav removed Rutherford in the 15th over, the West Indies still had work to do. Romario Shepherd (34 off 13, three sixes) made sure the conversation stayed one-sided. For India, the bowling was a problem with one bright exception. Mayank Yadav took 3-36 and bowled with genuine pace and hostility. Roston Chase's 3-24 in four overs earlier had been the best spell of the match from either side. But the rest of India's attack offered Hope precisely the length he wanted, and he punished it without hesitation. The numbers deserve plain statement: 252-4 is the West Indies' highest successful T20 chase, and the second-highest in all T20 internationals behind South Africa's 259-4 against the same West Indies side in March. The format's ceiling keeps rising, and Hope is one of the people lifting it. The series sits at 1-1 with three matches remaining. Indore hosts the third T20 on Sunday. India's batting is not the issue — 249 is a formidable score in any context. Their problem is that they currently have no answer for Hope when he decides the chase is his.
