India and West Indies go into a series-deciding 5th T20I at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on October 17 with the five-match series locked at 2-2, after Shai Hope's unbeaten century turned the fourth T20I in Hyderabad into a 24-run West Indies win.
No side has managed back-to-back wins across the first four matches: India won the Lucknow opener, West Indies hit back in Ranchi, India responded in Indore, and West Indies leveled it in Hyderabad. That pattern makes Bengaluru close to a genuine coin-flip on recent form alone, with both sides having shown they can win from any position inside a single innings.
A win for Shreyas Iyer's India seals the series 3-2 and extends a run of recent bilateral T20I series wins at home. A win for Shai Hope's West Indies would be their first series win in India in this format in years, and given how the tourists have fought back from 2-1 down, a result management will point to as proof the squad can win the moments that matter, not just produce isolated big innings.
Hope's twin centuries across the series put him in the bracket of batters India's bowling plans have to be built around, while Keemo Paul's five-wicket haul in Hyderabad showed the depth of the West Indies attack beyond its headline quicks. For India, Sanju Samson's 56 off 23 balls in the same match was the kind of finishing-overs hitting India's middle order will want to see again under similar pressure in a decider.
Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium has a long-standing reputation as one of the more batting-friendly T20I venues in India, which raises the likelihood of another high-scoring finish — a factor that could favor the side winning the toss and setting a target rather than chasing under lights.
Shai Hope remains the standout captaincy consideration on current form after back-to-back big scores in the series, while Sanju Samson's finishing-overs hitting makes him a strong differential pick in India's middle order. Keemo Paul's recent five-for adds genuine bowling upside at a lower price point for those building a balanced fantasy side for the decider.
Live scores and ball-by-ball updates from Bengaluru will be available on SportGod's live matches page, with build-your-team tools on SportGod's free fantasy games and data-backed match forecasts on SportGod's predictions page.
Series scoreline and schedule details in this article are verified against same-day and freshly re-checked reporting as of October 15, 2026; team news for the October 17 fixture was not yet confirmed at the time of writing.
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