India vs West Indies second Test | Gill, Jadeja excel as India continues to call the shots

For India, Shubman Gill’s 10th Test century — his fifth in seven matches since becoming captain — set up another day of one-way traffic in this Test series. For the West Indies, barring an hour or so of defiance from Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze after tea, there was no escape from agony.

At stumps on day two of the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, the men from the Caribbean were grimly positioned at 140 for four, still 378 runs adrift of the host’s first-innings total of 518 for five declared. That the West Indians batting 43 overs with six wickets intact was an improvement on the first Test paints a sorry picture.

After India declared an hour after lunch with Gill unbeaten on 129, the new-ball pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj probed the openers. For the first time since Roston Chase’s team landed in the subcontinent, a modicum of resistance was on evidence.

Miraculous catch

It took a miraculous catch from B. Sai Sudharsan for John Campbell to be dismissed in the eighth over, for he had middled his sweep against Ravindra Jadeja. But Sai Sudharsan didn’t flinch at short leg and saw the ball ricochet off his right hand onto his left. On completing the catch, the 23-year-old had to walk off the field for treatment. His swelling is learnt to not be serious.

The most heartening phase of the day for the West Indies was when Chanderpaul and Athanaze put together a 66-run alliance. The battle between Athanaze and Kuldeep Yadav was engrossing as the Dominican sought to dictate terms to the left-arm wrist-spinner. He launched the bowler for a six over long-on, and found sweet connection on his sweeps and reverse-sweeps. But it is symptomatic of his career so far that he still fell nine runs shy of a fifty. In the 33rd over, not long after Chanderpaul edged Jadeja to K.L. Rahul at slip, the southpaw slog-swept Kuldeep to midwicket. Skipper Roston Chase was caught and bowled by Jadeja without opening his account.

The first session was a demonstration of Gill’s class and composure. Once Yashasvi Jaiswal was run out on 175 in the second over of the day — the 17th instance of an Indian batter being dismissed in this fashion since 2023 — Gill took centrestage. After a 91-run stand between the No. 4 and Nitish Kumar, a further 102 runs were added by the skipper with Dhruv Jurel for the fifth wicket.