It took a while longer than expected, but India finally sealed an inevitable 2-0 series win over West Indies on the final morning of the second Test match in New Delhi.
Having entered the last day on 63/1 in pursuit of a target of 121, India knocked off the remaining runs for the loss of B Sai Sudarshan and an aggressive Shubman Gill, with KL Rahul ending on 58 not out to finish the series with a batting average of 96. This marks Gill’s first Test series win as captain, and he too averaged 96 with a century and fifty in four innings.
The delay in formalities owed to a welcome fightback from the visiting team after Gill enforced the follow-on, even if familiar batting frailties came to the fore once again. After being bowled out for 248 in reply to India’s 518/5 declared, West Indies were rallied by John Campbell, who scored his maiden Test century, and Shai Hope, who scored his first since 2017.
Their partnership of 177 helped keep India in the field for longer than they would have envisioned when Gill became the first Indian captain in a decade to enforce the follow-on with a lead of over 250. But once Campbell and Hope were dismissed, the innings caved in again as West Indies slipped to what was effectively 41/9.
Then another display of resistance, via Justin Greaves (50*) and Jayden Seales (32) to set India a target of 121.
India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second over of the final session on day four, which ruled out all chances of victory before scheduled stumps. Sudarshan fell for 39 to an excellent one-handed catch at slip from Hope, before Rahul finished the job on the fifth morning, with some help from Gill who walked out with aggression and struck a six and four in his 13.
West Indies came to India with their head coach Darren Sammy evoking New Zealand’s unprecedented 3-0 sweep last year. But in truth, this touring side is nowhere close to possessing the talent or temperament of Tom Latham’s squad. They failed to bat 50 overs in Ahmedabad, and barring the stand between Campbell and Hope, and later Greaves and Seales, the batting just did not have the gumption to deal with India’s bowlers in these conditions.
Taking the Delhi Test into day five and keeping India on the field for more than two days in a row was their only accomplishment of the tour. The way Campbell and Hope batted on days three and four was the kind of fight that not just West Indies and their fans, but what the series desperately needed. Campbell had set himself up very well on the third day and on Monday he duly got to his first Test century, in his 25th match.
Hope had also crossed 50 on day three and marched to his first century since his twin tons in England eight summers ago. These two innings raised West Indies’ hope of batting out the whole fourth day, but once Mohammed Siraj bowled Hope for 103, the innings unraveled.
Kuldeep Yadav, whose five wickets had been instrumental in keeping West Indies to 248 in their first innings, struggled for impact for the first two thirds of their second dig. But once he picked up the wicket of Tevin Imlach with a ball that stayed low, he looked a rejuvenated bowler and quickly took two more in his next over. This meant that West Indies had gone from 271/4 to 298/7. Then Jasprit Bumrah grabbed a couple of wickets, before that last-wicket partnership got the total to 390.
India played Bumrah in both Tests, after he featured in most of the team’s T20 Asia Cup campaign just before this series. Bumrah bowled 51.5 overs across two Tests for returns of seven wickets at 20.28 apiece. Kuldeep seems to have become India’s second spinner at home now that Ravichandran Ashwin has retired, and further underlined his credentials as a proven wicket-taker with 12 in the series, of which eight came in Delhi. Mohammed Siraj was also a constant threat, taking 10 wickets at 13 each.
A few lessons for India from this Test, where the pitch did not play as they expected when Gill chose to enforce the follow-on. There’s also the question of why Gill did not bowl Nitish Reddy when he was backed openly as the seam-bowling allrounder.
So yes, India won the match as expected. Perhaps they underestimated their opponents when deciding to make them bat again, but the pitch then got easier for batting. A good fight for a few sessions from West Indies, yet in the end, just not good enough to really challenge India at home.
