Hope and Rutherford power West Indies to the second-highest T20I chase in history

West Indies chased 250 against India at Ranchi on 9 October 2026, reaching 252 for 4 in 18.3 overs to win by six wickets. It is the second-highest successful chase in T20I history, behind only South Africa’s 259 against West Indies at Centurion in 2023. Captain Shai Hope made 102 not out off 45 balls, and Sherfane Rutherford struck 84 off 37. The series is now level at 1–1.

The chase looked improbable at 58 for 3 in the seventh over. Mayank Yadav had dismissed Shaldin Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer off consecutive deliveries in the opening over, and the required rate had climbed above 13 an over. What followed was 120 runs in 54 balls from a fourth-wicket partnership that rewrote West Indies’ T20I record books and exposed the limits of India’s bowling depth.

The match

India	249 for 5 (20 overs)
West Indies	252 for 4 (18.3 overs)
Result	West Indies won by 6 wickets
Venue	JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi
Date	9 October 2026

India’s 249 for 5 was built on Sanju Samson’s 82 off 41 balls, and it looked like more than enough when West Indies were three down with less than seven overs gone. The required rate was 13.4. The asking equation was 192 off 80 balls with only six wickets remaining. In most matches, that equation ends one way.

The partnership that changed everything

Hope and Rutherford came together at 58 for 3 and did not separate until 178 for 4. The stand of 120 runs off 54 balls is the highest fourth-wicket partnership in a T20I run chase and the second-highest partnership for West Indies in any T20I.

Phase	Overs	Runs	RR
Before partnership	6.5	58	8.49
Hope-Rutherford stand	9.0	120	13.33
After partnership	2.4	74	27.75

The method was division of labour. Rutherford attacked from the first ball, finding the boundary seven times off his first 20 deliveries. Hope rotated early, taking singles to keep the strike moving, and then accelerated once Rutherford had shifted the momentum. By the 14th over, the required rate had dropped below nine, and the chase had transformed from desperation into calculation.

Rutherford fell in the 16th over for 84, but by then the target was 74 off 28 balls with six wickets in hand. Hope finished the job himself, hitting the winning six off Axar Patel to bring up his century in the same stroke. The hundred came off 45 balls—the second-fastest for West Indies in T20Is, behind only Johnson Charles’s 39-ball effort against South Africa in 2023.

Hope’s innings

	Figure
Runs	102 not out
Balls	45
Fours	6
Sixes	9
Strike rate	226.67

Hope entered at 7 for 1 in the second over and batted until the final ball. The innings lasted 17 overs and 3 balls, yet his strike rate never dropped below 190 after the powerplay. The nine sixes tell the story: once he was set, he cleared the boundary at will, hitting Ravi Bishnoi for three sixes in one over and Axar Patel for two more in the 18th.

This was Hope’s second T20I century, and the first where he finished on the winning side. His previous hundred, 101 against England at Tarouba in March 2024, came in a match West Indies lost. The Ranchi knock is different: it was the chase that mattered, and he was there for all of it.

Rutherford’s assault

	Figure
Runs	84
Balls	37
Fours	7
Sixes	7
Strike rate	227.03

Rutherford reached his fifty off 24 balls, the fourth-fastest half-century by a West Indies batter against India in T20Is. His method was brute force: seven fours and seven sixes, with no preference for either. The left-hander targeted Kuldeep Yadav and Bishnoi, hitting each for two sixes, and punished anything short from the seamers.

His dismissal in the 16th over, caught at long-on off Axar, was the only wicket to fall in the partnership. By then, the damage was done. The equation had shrunk from 192 off 80 to 74 off 28, and even without Rutherford, West Indies were favourites.

Where 252 sits in T20I history

Only one successful T20I chase is higher.

Chase	Team	Opponent	Venue	Year
259/4	South Africa	West Indies	Centurion	2023
252/4	West Indies	India	Ranchi	2026
232/6	West Indies	South Africa	Johannesburg	2015
227/7	Zimbabwe	Scotland	Edinburgh	2024
220/3	Australia	England	Southampton	2020

The gap between first and second is seven runs. The gap between second and third is 20. West Indies now hold the first, second, and third spots on the unsuccessful-chase side of the ledger (267, 264, 258), but this is the chase that counts: the one they completed.

The match aggregate of 501 runs is the second-highest in T20I history, behind only the 550 scored when England and South Africa combined 265 and 285 at Centurion in 2016.

India’s innings: why 249 was not enough

Sanju Samson’s 82 off 41 balls was the foundation. He reached fifty off 28 balls and finished with nine fours and four sixes, striking at 200 throughout. Tilak Varma contributed 47 off 24, and Shreyas Iyer made 36 off 25 in a middle-order effort that should have been enough.

Batter	Runs	Balls	SR
Sanju Samson	82	41	200.00
Tilak Varma	47	24	195.83
Shreyas Iyer (c)	36	25	144.00
Others	70	30	233.33

The problem was the bowling. Roston Chase, bowling off-spin in the middle overs, took 3 for 24 and broke partnerships at key moments. Romario Shepherd conceded only 34 from his four overs and claimed a wicket. India’s acceleration in the final five overs—71 runs—came despite the constraints, not because of loose bowling.

India’s bowling: what went wrong

Mayank Yadav’s opening over promised a rout. Two wickets off consecutive balls—Pooran caught at point, Hetmyer edging behind—left West Indies reeling at 7 for 2. He finished with 3 for 36 from four overs, and the early damage should have set the tone.

But the spinners could not sustain it. Bishnoi went for 52 in four overs, Axar for 48 in four, and Kuldeep conceded 38 in three. The combined spin attack leaked 138 runs in 11 overs at 12.55 an over. Against a chase requiring 13 an over, that was not containment—it was surrender.

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wickets	Economy
Mayank Yadav	4	36	3	9.00
Axar Patel	4	48	1	12.00
Ravi Bishnoi	4	52	0	13.00
Kuldeep Yadav	3	38	0	12.67
Others	3.3	74	0	21.14

What this chase does not prove

It does not prove West Indies are suddenly a T20I power. One chase, however historic, does not erase a decade of inconsistency. Their reliance on two batters to score 186 of the 252 runs—73 percent—is precisely the imbalance that loses them matches more often than it wins them. Hope and Rutherford delivered; nobody else made more than 27.

It does not prove India’s spinners are a weakness. Axar and Bishnoi have been central to India’s T20 success over the past two years, including their World Cup campaign in February. One bad day against batters specifically targeting them is variance, not evidence of decline.

And it does not prove 250 is now a par score in T20Is. This chase happened on a flat Ranchi surface, with short boundaries, against spinners who could not find rhythm. The conditions were specific; the result should not generalise. Most teams, on most days, would have fallen 40 runs short.

What it does prove

It proves the possible ceiling of T20I chases has risen. Before Centurion 2023, no side had chased more than 245 in a T20I. Now two chases above 250 have happened in under four years. The format is evolving: bat technology, boundary sizes, and batting depth have combined to make targets that once ended matches into targets that merely set them up.

It proves Hope is now a genuine T20I threat, not just an ODI accumulator. His strike rate in the format has climbed from 118 in 2022 to 141 in 2026, and his two T20I centuries have both come in the past three years. The transformation from steady anchor to match-winner is complete.

And it proves partnerships still decide T20Is. For all the talk of boundary-hitting and strike rates, it was 54 balls of sustained pressure from two batters at the same end that turned 58 for 3 into 178 for 4. The mechanics were simple: keep each other at the crease, rotate when boundaries are not on, and punish anything loose. That formula worked when T20 cricket began, and it worked in Ranchi against the reigning world champions.

The series moves to Indore for the third T20I, with everything still to play for. West Indies have a result, India have a wake-up call, and both sides know what the other is capable of. The 250 that was not enough at Ranchi will not be forgotten by either dressing room.