Twitter Reactions: Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Virat Kohli star in a thrilling tie

The action went down to the wire in Vizag as the thrilling game ended in a tie. With five needing off the last delivery, Shai Hope smacked a boundary off Umesh Yadav as there was no winner in the game and fittingly it was a sensational tie. Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Virat Kohli were the stars of the day as they just treated the crowd with a magnificent batting masterclass. India and Windies played out one of the most thrilling games of the year which swung right through.

Kieran Powell couldn’t back up his decent knock in Guwahati as he was sent back by Mohammed Shami early in the chase even as Chanderpaul Hemraj and Marlon Samuels were castled by Kuldeep Yadav. At 78/3, things looked grim for Windies and that is when Shai Hope joined hands with Shimron Hetmyer, the centurion of the last match. The flamboyant left-hander took the attack to the hosts’ bowlers and picked variations from the wrist-spinners beautifully.

He continued to play his big shots and amazingly connected to leave the full-house Vizag crowd worried. The duo added 143 runs in less than 20 overs and literally stunned everyone with a fightback. Hetmyer just tore apart the Indian bowling like he did in the previous game and raced into the 90s. But the youngster missed out agonisingly on a well-deserved century as he missed a long hop from Yuzvendra Chahal only to spoon a catch to Kohli. He scored 94 runs off just 64 balls and threatened to take the game away while he was there.

Meanwhile, Hope kept his calm and manoeuvred the ball cleverly to smartly control the innings. But Hetmyer’s wicket allowed India to come back in the game. Their spinners bowled well to build up dot balls and brought the equation down to 23 off last three overs. Hope got to his century in the process but had a bigger job to do in his hands.

A sensational 48th and 49th over from Chahal and Shami respectively, meant that Hope and Ashley Nurse had to score 14 runs to take Windies over the line. Umesh Yadav was entrusted to bowl the final over and he did extremely well to not concede a legal boundary. There were four leg-byes unfortunately as it came down to five runs off the final delivery and Hope just screamed the wide ball to a four to evade a diving fielder as the match ended in a tie.

Records galore in Kohli’s 157*

Earlier in the day, Team India opted to bat first and rode on a sensational inning from their skipper Virat Kohli. After losing their openers early, Ambati Rayudu and Kohli stitched a 139-run stand to rebuild the innings. While the former got out at the wrong time, his partner continued to play under the sapping heat and slammed his 37th ODI century.

In the process, he also reached the 10,000-run mark in his already illustrious career. Records galore during his knock and after reaching the three-figure score, the 29-year-old just unravelled his trademark strokes as the crowd was in his awe. His sheer dedication to stay in the middle until the end propelled India to 321 runs after 50 overs.

However, the score didn’t look enough when Hetmyer and Hope were going berserk. But a superb death bowling helped India claw their way back in the game and when they were favourites to clinch it, Hope shattered all the hopes to score a boundary and end it in a tie.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the thrilling game: