Hope for history: West Indies captain on verge of breaking Phil Salt, Babar Azam’s world record in 5th T20I

With West Indies posing a stronger challenge than expected, India will need to address some batting deficiencies if they are to beat the visitors in the crucial fifth T20I in Bengaluru on Saturday. The match is expected to be high-scoring, with the five-match series currently tied at 2-2.A tough first four matches helped hide several weaknesses in India’s batting unit, which could come under greater scrutiny in the series decider.Meanwhile, West Indies captain Shai Hope has a chance to break several batting records while leading his team to a series win in India.Hope scored an unbeaten century in the fourth T20I on Wednesday (October 14) and has made 261 runs in the four matches so far. If he scores at least 71 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, he will surpass England opener Phil Salt’s record for most runs in a bilateral T20I series.Salt scored 331 runs in five T20Is during England’s five-match series against the West Indies in December 2023. Hope will need a big innings in the final match to surpass that mark.Hope already holds the record for most runs scored in a T20I series against India. He can also set a new mark for the most runs scored by a captain in a bilateral T20I series.If he scores at least 25 runs in the fifth T20I, Hope will move past Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who scored 285 runs as captain in seven T20Is against England in 2022. Hope has scored 261 runs as captain in the ongoing series.Another century would also put Hope in a league of his own among captains in T20I cricket. He is currently tied with India’s Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam and Eswatini’s Adil Butt, all four of whom have scored three T20I centuries as captains. A fourth century would make Hope the first captain to achieve the mark in the format.