West Indies seek their first lead of the tour as the third T20I reaches Indore

West Indies can lead a series in India for the first time on this tour if they win the third T20I in Indore on Sunday

Shai Hope's side reach the Holkar Cricket Stadium level at 1-1, two days after they answered India's 249 for 5 with 252 for 4 in 18.3 overs in Ranchi and won by six wickets with nine balls to spare.

It was the highest successful chase West Indies have completed in men's T20I cricket, and the second highest by any side in the format, behind South Africa's 259 for 4 against the same opponents at Centurion in 2023.

Nothing earlier on the tour had put the visitors in front. India won the first two ODIs by eight wickets each before West Indies took the third in New Chandigarh, and India opened the T20I series in Lucknow. A win in Indore would give West Indies a 2-1 lead with two matches left.

A captain in the best form of the tour

Hope kept wicket, led the side and finished the chase unbeaten on 102 from 45 balls, bringing up the hundred with a six over wide long-on.

He returned afterwards to a theme he has raised through the series. "You always think you're in the game, regardless of what score is on the board," he said of chasing in Indian conditions after the win in Ranchi.

His reading after the defeat in Lucknow was less comfortable. "When you come to India and play in their home conditions, you've got to play your best cricket," Hope said. "You know they're a very tough team to beat, so you've got to make sure you have more rights than wrongs."

The stand that turned Ranchi

West Indies were 44 for 3 early in the chase after Mayank Yadav removed Kamil Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer off consecutive deliveries in the first over.

Sherfane Rutherford answered with 84 from 37 balls, and his fourth-wicket stand with Hope was worth 120 from 54 deliveries before Kuldeep Yadav dismissed him.

Rovman Powell made 24 from 13 and Romario Shepherd finished unbeaten on 34 from 13, so the innings never slowed once the stand had done its work.

Hope was clear about where the momentum came from. Rutherford, he said, "just gave us that spark that we needed to get over the line today".

The bowling is the harder question

Roston Chase took three wickets in Ranchi and Shamar Springer two, but India still posted their highest T20I total against West Indies.

Sanju Samson's 82 from 41 balls set that total up, and Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma added 83 between them at the death.

Hope has already identified the gap between the two attacks. "I also felt when India bowled, their spinners got a lot more spin on the surface," he said after Lucknow, where West Indies were bowled out for 171.

Short boundaries and the dew question

Indore gives a bowler less room than most grounds: the square boundaries measure roughly 56 metres and the straight ones about 68.

Dew in the second innings is the other variable, and it is the reason the toss carries weight here — a wet ball is harder to grip for the side defending a total.

The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association expects a crowd of around 27,500 and has a contingency plan ready should the weather turn, though the local forecast for the week is dry.

Two matches still to come

Whatever happens on Sunday, the series runs on to Hyderabad on 14 October and Bengaluru on 17 October, so Indore settles only who leads.

West Indies have named no changes to their squad since the series began, with Hope continuing as captain and wicketkeeper.

For a side that lost the ODI series and the first T20I, the chance to go in front in India is a sharp change of position in the space of one night's cricket.

The toss is at 6.30pm IST, with play in Indore starting half an hour later.

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