Certainly in comparison to the low yardstick of the opening Test when the West Indies batters lasted a mere 44.1 and 45.1 overs across the two innings, there was a little more application from the visitors on day two of the second Test here on Saturday.

Although the deficit is 378 runs, West Indies, which reached 140 for four at the close, will hope to chew up more overs in its first innings and thwart India’s bowlers for as long as possible. Ravindra Jadeja was India’s most successful bowler on Saturday, delivering 14 overs and prising out three scalps on a perfectly good pitch for run-scoring at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

The 36-year-old left-arm spinner senses more toil ahead on day three, primarily because of the nature of the strip. “It’s not like every ball is spinning a lot. The bounce is less. You have to use your shoulder more. While bowling slow, the batters find it easy to go back and adjust. You have to keep varying your pace on this pitch. The ball isn’t spinning quickly. So there is hard work ahead,” the all-rounder assessed post the day’s play.

The surface’s attributes may not be to Jadeja’s liking as a spinner, but it is exactly in line with the team’s demands going into this series.

“I’m not surprised because we’ve asked for slow turn. We’ve not asked for rank turners. This is what we expected as the game progresses. The wicket will start turning slowly. Not on the first day. We have to bowl well through the innings. Only then we’ll be able to get them out. We’ll continue to do it and hopefully produce good results,” he said.  

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.

In recent times, Indian pitches have mostly been spin-friendly. And on more than one occasion, even Indian batters, traditionally good players of spin bowling, have found the going tough.

On Wednesday (October 1, ahead of the first Test versus the West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium, skipper Shubman Gill, who will be leading the side for the first time at home, expressed a preference for more sporting wickets.

“I can’t speak about the conversations before I came, but we would be looking to play on wickets that offer something to both batters and the bowlers,” Gill said. “Having said that, for any team that comes to India, the challenge is [countering] spin and reverse swing.

“If teams can play spin well and if they can challenge the reverse swing, they are going to get good success. So keeping these challenges in mind, you’d be looking to play on wickets that offer something to the batsmen and the bowlers,” the 26-year-old added.

The turf at Ahmedabad has appeared greener than usual, which means the Indian think tank will have a selection dilemma. Gill has four first-rate spinners at his disposal – Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar – and a fiery pace attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

“We have such quality in our team… someone like Kuldeep, such a wicket-taker for us in all formats, didn’t get a chance to play in England, which was very unfortunate. But [if you are] playing four spinners, and spinners of such quality, you are always tempted to look at the batting depth. You have to just weigh in your options… what can give you a bit more.”

Chief among the decisions will be about Bumrah’s game time. The premier pacer played just three of five Tests in England as the team management had to manage his workload keeping in mind his tender back.

“We’re going to take a call on a match-to-match basis depending on how long a Test match goes on and how many overs our fast bowlers bowl,” Gill said. “Nothing is pre-decided. We’re going to take the call once the Test match is over and how our fast bowlers feel and how their bodies feel.”

India’s last home series ended in a humiliating 0-3 reverse to New Zealand less than 12 months ago. But the 2-2 draw away in England has seemingly stabilised the ship.

“We are looking to play some hard, grinding cricket,” Gill stated. “Over the past few years, if you see the Test matches, they haven’t gone to five days. So what we are looking to do is play some good, hard cricket.”

“All the Test matches that we played in England went pretty deep. What you can expect from us is good, hard, grinding cricket and we won’t be looking for any easy options.

“We have the skills to dominate in any kind of situation, and the kind of talent we have got in the team, we can turn around from any situation.”