IND vs WI, 2nd Test: Gill, Jadeja put India ahead despite West Indies fight on Day 2

West Indies batters turned up with their defensive wares, showed stomach for a fight, before their resistance wilted against India’s tweakers during the second Test, leaving the visitor at 140 for four at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

In a deficit of 378 runs, the outlook looks bleak for the West Indies, but opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze led a batting effort that was far better than the side’s woeful outing earlier in this series.

John Campbell’s booming slog sweep off Ravindra Jadeja, snared by Sai Sudharsan at short leg, made for an ominous start. Sudharsan had little idea of how the sequence unfolded as the ball speared into his right hand, just under his helmet, which was moving upwards in a protective reflex.

But Chanderpaul and Athanaze moved on and were adept against the spinners, who were brought on as early as the eighth over.

Athanaze deftly late cut Kuldeep Yadav past backward point and mounted pressure by a waft over long on in the same over. With only a subtle turn to contend with, Athanaze trusted his reverse sweep, first against Kuldeep and then Washington Sundar.

Chanderpaul disrupted Jadeja’s lengths by charging down the wicket, heaving him down the ground in back-to-back overs. Chanderpaul inventively moved his front leg outside the line of the off stump against Jadeja, depriving the bowler the chance to trap him in front with his faster, flatter variations.

But the change-ups came good in the final hour, and the batters’ hard work unravelled rather quickly with West Indies losing three wickets for twenty runs. Chanderpaul edged to first slip when he poked hard at a slightly wider delivery from Jadeja. Athanaze then sliced his slog sweep to midwicket off Kuldeep’s slightly fuller ball. Roston Chase departed for a duck and offered a simple return catch to Jadeja in the next over.

AS IT HAPPENED: IND vs WI Highlights, 2nd Test Day 2

At 107 for four, Kevon Imlach and Shai Hope kept their heads, and their unbeaten 33-run stand prevented further slide.

The late inroads meant India could still inflict an innings defeat on the West Indies, a prospect that was certain when Shubman Gill’s fifth Test century (129 n.o., 196b, 12×4, 2×6) as captain pushed the opposition against the wall.

A hundred was the only fair compensation Gill could offer after his mix-up with Yashasvi Jaiswal quashed the southpaw’s hopes of registering his third double ton.

A day that started with brimming anticipation for Jaiswal culminated in a demoralising run out. He had added two singles to his overnight tally of 173 and was in the hunt for a third with a drive to mid off, but his skipper was culpable of ball-watching at the non-striker’s end, which led to his dismissal.

The start could have been worse for India had Nitish Kumar Reddy not enjoyed the rub off the green. Deprived of time at the crease in the previous match, the all-rounder was bumped up the order to No. 5. However, his lack of game time was evident.

He was squared up by Jayden Seales and rapped on the back pad, and saved only by an umpire’s call upon a DRS request by the West Indies. Reddy survived another close shave against Seales when his flimsy drive caught an edge and crept through the cordon.

At the other end, Gill exploited the lack of movement and charged down to Anderson Phillip, collecting fours from a cover drive and a clip off his pads. He deployed his short-arm jab to loft Justin Greaves to pick his first maximum.

Gill’s assurance rubbed off on Nitish, and he used the spinners to shake off the fidgety start. He cleared his front leg against Jomel Warrican and slogged him over the long on boundary, following it up with a subtler roll of his wrists through extra covers.

He reproduced his heave over long on against Warrican but only after his fluffed drive on 20 runs was shelled at mid off by Phillip. A third attempt to heave Warrican over long on went awry as Nitish picked the fielder and fell short of a fifty.

The wickets, though, were mere interludes in Gill’s assertion, which intensified once he ticked past his century off 177 balls. He charged down to Chase and deposited him beyond midwicket for his second six. Khary Piere’s slow and low turn allowed Gill to crouch and cut him through point twice in one over, sandwiching his wild hack that flew over slip but still got him four.

By the time Dhruv Jurel fell after a 79-ball 44, Gill was convinced India was out of sight and called for a declaration on 518. His spinners’ efforts later in the day might just prove him right.

Published on Oct 11, 2025