Hayley Matthews assault helps West Indies level series

Hayley Matthews scored an unbeaten 85 as West Indies won the second T20I by nine wickets, leveling the series against India.

Chasing 160, West Indies reached their target with 26 balls to spare.

India's innings was hampered by early wickets. Uma Chetry was dismissed early and Jemimah Rodrigues, who had shone in the first game, struggled. Smriti Mandhana provided some momentum with a couple of boundaries, but Hayley Matthews dismissed Rodrigues lbw in the final over of the powerplay.

Debutant Raghvi Bist also fell cheaply, leaving India struggling at 48/3.

Mandhana kept pushing the scoring rate, aided by a couple of dropped catches. With Harmanpreet Kaur unavailable due to a niggle, Mandhana found support in Deepti Sharma. India finally found some momentum in the 13th over, hitting Ashmini Munisar for four boundaries. Mandhana reached her fifty and hammered Matthews for a four and a six off successive deliveries. However, Matthews got her revenge, dismissing Mandhana soon after.

Deepti Sharma failed to capitalize on her start and the lower order couldn't contribute significantly. Richa Ghosh was the only other batter to make an impact, hitting six boundaries to help India reach 159/9.

Qiana Joseph hammered three fours and a six off Titas Sadhu in the second over of the chase, while Matthews hit successive boundaries off Renuka Thakur in the following over.

The West Indies batters continued their assault, erasing 65 runs from the target in the powerplay alone. Saima Thakor dismissed Joseph, but Matthews took charge, hitting Radha Yadav for four consecutive boundaries to bring up her fifty. She then targeted Thakor for three more boundaries, sealing the victory for West Indies in the 16th over.

Brief scores:

India 159/9 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 62, Richa Ghosh 32; Deandra Dottin 2/14) lost to West Indies 160/1 in 15.4 overs (Hayley Matthews 85*, Qiana Joseph 38) by 9 wickets