Shai Hope's hundred and Keemo Paul's five-for level the T20I series for West Indies

Shai Hope's unbeaten hundred and a five-wicket haul from Keemo Paul gave West Indies a 24-run win in Hyderabad and forced the T20I series to a decider

West Indies made 247 for 3 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday and then dismissed India for 223 in 19.3 overs, levelling the five-match series at 2-2.

Shreyas Iyer won the toss and put the visitors in. The decision was undone by Shai Hope, who captained the side, kept wicket, finished on 102 not out from 50 balls and was named player of the match.

India's reply opened at a furious rate through Sanju Samson, but Keemo Paul returned 5-41 to take the chase apart.

Hope's second hundred of the series

Hope struck four fours and nine sixes in his 50-ball innings, reaching his third hundred in T20 internationals — more than any other West Indies batter has made.

It was also his second of this series, after an unbeaten 102 from 45 balls in Ranchi earlier in the month.

He and Jewel Andrew put on 52 for the first wicket, a stand that carried West Indies through the powerplay before Axar Patel had Andrew lbw for 21.

Hope then added 50 with Shimron Hetmyer, who hit 33 from 12 balls before falling.

Rutherford carries the innings past 240

Rovman Powell made 24 from 17 before Sherfane Rutherford took over at the death.

Rutherford finished on 49 not out from 26 balls, and his unbroken stand of 91 with Hope came in the closing overs.

India's attack took only three wickets in the innings. Prince Yadav finished with 1-36, and Axar Patel removed Andrew.

Samson sets a furious pace

Chasing 248, India began as though the target were reachable. Sanju Samson opened and made 56 from 23 balls with six fours and four sixes.

He and Abhishek Sharma brought up a fifty stand inside the powerplay, and Paul's dismissal of Samson ended the quickest phase of the innings.

Ishan Kishan fell to Paul for 6 in the fifth over and Abhishek went for 29. Iyer made 16 before Shamar Springer had him caught in the deep by Andrew in the eighth.

Paul breaks the chase

Paul's figures were his second five-wicket haul in T20 internationals, and his overs at the death settled the match.

Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy kept India in range with a stand of 70, 50 of it in about 30 balls, Tilak making 43 and Reddy 41.

Neither lasted to the end. Gudakesh Motie, Springer and Romario Shepherd shared the remaining wickets.

The innings closed in the final over, with Arshdeep Singh struck on the shoulder and unable to continue.

"I think all the guys, we back our skills and we feel we could beat any team on our day," Paul said afterwards.

A decider in Bengaluru

India had taken a 2-1 lead into the match and now find the series level with one to play.

"We were unfortunate we couldn't execute our plans in bowling and that's where we fell a bit short," Iyer said.

Hope has now made hundreds in two of the four matches, and India have not found a way to remove him early in either.

The decider is at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Scorecard: West Indies 247 for 3 (Hope 102*, Rutherford 49*) beat India 223 (Samson 56, Tilak 43, Paul 5-41) by 24 runs.

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