Hope’s unbeaten 162 leads West Indies to record ODI chase

Shai Hope struck an unbeaten 162 to guide West Indies to a record successful chase of 352 against India, despite KL Rahul’s own career-best century.

Hope batted through the entire innings, keeping wicket for a full 50 overs before hobbling through the closing stages of his innings, as West Indies completed their highest-ever successful ODI chase to beat India by five wickets in New Chandigarh.

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Chasing 352, West Indies lost one of their five specialist batters to injury before Hope even began to struggle physically, and survived a contentious decision against Sherfane Rutherford, which pushed Keemo Paul into the top five for the first time in his ODI career.

Paul responded with 44, while Shamarh Brooks’ opening partner Amir Jangoo made 67, but it was Hope’s 162 not out that carried the chase home.

The win came in the only match of the series in which West Indies got to bat second, after India won the toss for a third straight time and chose to bat first regardless.

New Chandigarh’s conditions proved heavily in favour of batting, with the opening 10 overs yielding just 28-2 before the remaining overs produced 675 runs at better than 7.6 an over.

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India’s total of 351-7 had been built on KL Rahul’s unbeaten 129, his highest ODI score, alongside contributions of 92 from Rohit Sharma and 57 from Ruturaj Gaikwad, with Jayden Seales taking 3-62.

But with Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya both absent, India’s bowling was again exposed, a concerning sign with the World Cup now less than a year away.

– AFP

Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

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