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Skipper Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford struck blazing knocks as the West Indies recorded the second-highest T20 chase of all time on Friday to beat India by six wickets.After India posted 249-5 batting first, the West Indies rode on a 120-run fourth-wicket partnership between Hope, who hit an unbeaten 102, and Rutherford (84) to achieve the target with nine balls to spare in Ranchi.Hope completed the win with the ninth six of his innings and one that brought up his century off 45 balls, as the West Indies bounced back to level the five-match series at 1-1.South Africa hold the record for the highest successful run chase in men's T20 cricket, scoring 259-4 against the West Indies in Centurion in 2023.West Indies' previous best chase was when they overhauled 231 by South Africa in Johannesburg in 2015.Hope and the left-handed Rutherford led an aggressive counter-attack after joining forces with the West Indies 58-3.Rutherford reached his fifty off 24 balls and kept up the charge before falling to left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.He hit seven fours and seven sixes in his 37-ball blitz.Hope, who struck his second T20 ton, stood firm and put on an unbeaten stand of 74 with Romario Shepherd, who hit 34.Indian speedster Mayank Yadav struck in the opening over with two successive wickets, removing Shimron Hetmyer for a first-ball duck.Yadav also bowled Rovman Powell for 24 with a delivery that clocked 150 km/h (93 mph), but Hope and Rutherford turned the chase on its head.Earlier, Sanju Samson made 82 off 41 balls before skipper Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma powered India to an imposing total after being asked to bat first.Samson and Ishan Kishan (43) put on 97 runs for the second wicket after swashbuckling opener Abhishek Sharm departed for 20.Spinner Roston Chase struck the first blow and then delivered two more - bowling Kishan and Shivam Dube - to check India's surge.Pace bowler Shamar Springer dismissed Samson but Iyer and Varma bludgeoned 83 runs off 33 balls for the fifth wicket.Iyer fell to the penultimate ball of the innings after a rapid 40 off 18 balls while Varma finished unbeaten with 44 in equally quick time.The third match is on Sunday in Indore. BRIEF SCORESWest Indies 252 for 4 (Hope 102*, Rutherford 84, Mayank 3-36) beat India 249 for 5 (Samson 82, Tilak 44, Chase 3-24) by six wickets 

The West Indies tuned up for the T20 World Cup Super Eights in perfect fashion Thursday with a comfortable 42-run victory over Italy in their final group match in Kolkata.After being asked to bat, the West Indies captain Shai Hope scored 75 off 46 balls with four sixes to help his side post 165-6 in the dead rubber Group C clash.They then easily defended the total by bowling out Italy for 123 off 18 overs."I always try to contribute. Wicket was a good one; felt like I could've given the team more impetus at the death," said Hope, who was named player of the match.Italy finished with one win in four matches at their debut World Cup, and Hope said it wasn't easy when his side did not know many of the opposition players."When you face unfamiliar opposition, you plan but are unsure. You are facing many bowlers for the first time," he said."They bowled well in patches, it was tough to score early on. You have to be ruthless early on."Italy lost regular wickets and were always behind in their chase in the face of tight bowling by the West Indies.JJ Smuts took 27 balls to score 24 as Italy failed to break the shackles in the middle overs.Ben Manenti whacked 26 off 21 balls before having his stumps shattered by Gudakesh Motie with four overs to go, and from 115-7 the rest folded quickly.Pace bowler Shamar Joseph took a superb 4-30 backed up ably by fellow seamer Matthew Forde, who had 3-19.Joseph also had a great day in the field and became the first player to take four wickets and four catches in a T20 international.Left-arm spinner Motie was the pick of the slow bowlers, finishing with 2-24 from his four overs.The West Indies will face Zimbabwe in Mumbai on Monday to kick off their Super Eights campaign, with clashes against South Africa and co-hosts India to follow. BRIEF SCORES: West Indies 165 for 6 (Hope 75, Kalugamage 2-25, B Manenti 2-37) beat Italy 123 (B Manenti 26, Joseph 4-30, Forde 3-19, Motie 2-24) by 42 runs. 

India closed in on a 2-0 series sweep in the second Test despite some spirited West Indies batting led by centuries from John Campbell and Shai Hope Monday.Needing 121 for victory after bowling out the West Indies for 390, the hosts reached 63-1 at stumps on day four at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.K L Rahul, on 25, and Sai Sudharsan, on 30, were batting in a stand of 54 at close of an absorbing day’s play.Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early for eight after left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican had the Indian opener caught at long-on while attempting an ambitious heave.Rahul and the left-handed Sudharsan steadied the ship and the pair kept up the scoring with singles and occasional boundaries against a persistent West Indies spin attack.Earlier, Justin Greaves with an unbeaten 50 and Jayden Seales (32) put on 79 runs for the final wicket to frustrate India after the West Indies slipped to 311-9 in the second session.Greaves and the left-handed number 10 defied the bowlers for 133 deliveries with straight-bat shots before Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Seales in the final session for his third wicket.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav also took three wickets to add to his five-wicket haul in the West Indies’ first innings.Campbell (115) and Hope (103) had steered the West Indies into the lead after the tourists resumed the day on 173-2 while following on.“I think it’s a big positive for us,” Campbell said of their fightback. “Having not gotten the best first innings, we came out second innings and batted over 100 overs, so that’s a big plus for us.”The left-right batting pair of Campbell and Hope put on 177 runs for the third wicket.Kuldeep strikes Opener Campbell reached his first Test ton with a six off Ravindra Jadeja before the left-arm spinner trapped him lbw in the morning session.Hope kept up the charge after lunch and reached his first Test hundred in eight years with a boundary off pace bowler Mohammed Siraj.Siraj had his revenge soon after when the batter dragged his delivery onto his stumps.Kuldeep then took over to send back wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach, trapped lbw for two. The left-arm wrist spinner then struck twice in three balls including skipper Roston Chase for 40 before Greaves and Seales put on a defiant partnership.India bowled more than 200 overs on a slow pitch that made life tough for bowlers.The visitors had waged a fightback after being reduced to 35-2 in their second innings on day three, but the batters made sure the game will go the distance to day five.“Good to be bowling long spells and heartening to have taken 20 West Indies wickets,” Indian spinner Washington Sundar told reporters. “We got to be really fit and on top of our game. In Test cricket you honestly expect most of the Test matches to go till the fifth day and challenge you in every way possible,” the off spinner said.India enforced the follow-on after they bowled out the West Indies for 248, a deficit of 270 from the hosts’ first-innings 518-5 declared. The hosts won the first Test, in Ahmedabad, by an innings and 140 runs.BRIEF SCORE: SIndia 518 for 5 dec and 63 for 1 (Sai Sudharsan 30*, Rahul 25*, Warrican 1-15) need a further 58 runs to beat West Indies 248 and 390 (Campbell 115, Hope, 103, Greaves 50*, Bumrah 3-44, Kuldeep 3-104)