WEST INDIES TOUR OF INDIA, 2025
India picked up four wickets before stumps. © BCCI
Shubman Gill made hay as the sun shone down on him in Delhi, scoring his 10th Test hundred on Day 2. Yashasvi Jaiswal missed out on his double ton but India piled on the runs and declared at 518/5 with an hour to play in the second session. Gill finished unbeaten on 129 – his highest Test score in India. West Indies showed better batting application than they did in Ahmedabad, and yet finished the day four down and in arrears of 378 runs.
India came out feeling more adventurous on the second morning, and it reflected in their scoring rate that soared over four all session. They were set back twice with the wickets of Jaiswal and Nitish Reddy, but Gill ensured the flow of runs was fluent all along.
A miscommunication between Gill and Jaiswal led to the latter’s run out, denying the opener a third Test double hundred. Jaiswal looked dejected at the outcome of that passage of play, where he pushed the ball towards mid-off and hared across for a single. Gill said no but the opener was too far along to make it back on time, though he tried.
Nitish was then promoted to No.5 as India sought to give their fast bowling all-rounder some time in the middle. He and Gill threaded the fields with comfort as the conditions continued to side with the batters. Nitish drove without any inhibitions, and his only real tests came against short-pitched bowling from Jayden Seales. He dealt well with spin, hitting Warrican for two sixes and even earned a lifeline when Anderson Phillip dropped a simple catch at mid-off. But the left-arm spinner was once again West Indies’ only route to a breakthrough. Nitish mistimed a big shot and found Seales at long-on to depart for 43.
Gill meanwhile, was largely disdainful in the session. He kept stepping out against the pacers, flicking and cover-driving fiercely to bring up a half-century. He went to Lunch break at 75, with a 10th Test hundred in his sights. Along expected lines, Gill continued to punish West Indies for being hapless with the ball. He soon raised his fifth century of the calendar year, becoming only the second Indian captain besides Virat Kohli (2017 and 2018) to do so. Dhruv Jurel too got comfortable, and like Nitish, looked set for milestone(s) of his own. India were flying at this point at five an over, but Jurel fell – like Nitish – in the 40s while attempting a big shot against Roston Chase. Gill opted to declare straight away, giving his bowlers more than a session on Day 2 to make inroads.
At the toss on Friday, Chase had asked his batters to fight harder and bat for 90 overs. After they were bundled out in 44.1 and 45.1 overs in Ahmedabad, West Indies’ start was much better in Delhi. John Campbell and Tagnarine Chanderpaul played out the early probing spell from Jasprit Bumrah, but the former suffered an unlikely dismissal against the run of play. Campbell connected with a hard sweep against Jadeja, but hit it at Sai Sudharsan fielding at forward short leg.
Sudharsan instinctively took evasive action as the ball hit his helmet grille, and got stuck between his body and his hands. Campbell had to exit, but so did Sudharsan who needed an ice pack on his bruised right hand. Chanderpaul and Alick Athinaze then joined forces to push back for the next 20.1 overs. But this semblance of a fight was ended by a Jadeja delivery that was pulled back a touch. Chanderpaul reached out and pressed forward, nicking it to KL Rahul at first slip. Athanaze was looking solid until he copped a bouncer from Bumrah on his helmet, and then fell to Kuldeep Yadav. He went for a slog sweep and hit to Jadeja at mid-wicket. West Indies were in a familiar fix when Chase then tamely gave a return catch to Jadeja.
Even as Dhruv Jurel kept egging Jadeja to pick two more wickets before stumps, Shai Hope and Tevin Imlach dragged the visitors to the end of day’s play on 140/4.
Brief Scores: West Indies 140/4 (Alick Athanaze 41; Ravindra Jadeja 3-37) trail India 518/5 decl. (Yashasvi Jaiswal 175, Shubman Gill 129*, Sai Sudharsan 87; Jomel Warrican 3-98) by 378 runs
© Cricbuzz
