Since taking over as India’s Test captain in June, Shubman Gill has hit a purple patch. Ravindra Jadeja, on the other hand, has been his team’s go-to man for a long time, both with the bat and with the ball.
The duo was at it again at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, playing significant hands on another day of home domination that was briefly, but only briefly, halted by an improved West Indies. At stumps on Saturday, the second day of the second Test, the visitors were 140-4 after India declared their first innings at 518-5, an hour into the second session.
Heartbreak for Jaiswal
Gill’s day didn’t get off to the perfect start. The Indian skipper was involved in the run-out of Yashasvi Jaiswal to the eighth ball of the morning. The left-hander, on 175, drove Jayden Seales crisply to mid-off and set off for the single — it was, after all, the striker’s call. Gill showed no inclination for the single, and while he was not culpable in the dismissal once Tagenarine Chanderpaul swooped on the ball and relayed it to wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach, the incident would undoubtedly have impacted his thinking.
The right-hander has shown admirable control in every sense of the term over the last few months, and he quickly put that mix-up behind him to produce a brilliant fifth century in seven Tests, his 10th overall. Gill must have been equally delighted that Nitish Kumar Reddy (43) ticked another box, making the most of his elevation to No. 5. Nitish, put down at mid-off by Anderson Phillip off Jomel Warrican on 20, holed out in the deep in the quest for quick runs, but his fall didn’t stymie the rate of scoring as Dhruv Jurel and Gill put on 102 for the fifth wicket.
Unlucky exit for Campbell
WI had spent more than 134 overs on the field, time enough to realise that the pitch didn’t hold too many terrors. Whatever turn there was, was slow, giving the batters enough time to adjust. John Campbell looked in the mood until becoming the victim of a freak dismissal, sweeping Jadeja’s second ball into Sai Sudharsan at short-leg. The ball nestled in the fielder’s neck off his right hand, a terrible way to make an exit.
Jadeja used his experience and smarts to put more shoulder into his bowling to try and negate the slowness of the surface. Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze were equal to the task against him as well as Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar. Athanaze used the sweep, conventional and reverse, to good effect, making light of a blow to his helmet by Jasprit Bumrah, while Chanderpaul seemed secure as the duo put on 66 in WI’s best batting phase of the series.
Enter Jadeja, to force Chanderpaul to edge to slip and Roston Chase to tamely drive the ball back to him. In between, Kuldeep dismissed Athanaze to an ugly hoick, though Shai Hope held out the hope of a better Sunday with numerous gorgeous off-drives.
Two
Shubman Gill is only the second Indian skipper after Virat Kohli (2017 and 2018) to score five Test centuries in a calendar year
933
No of runs scored by Shubman Gill since being appointed India captain in seven Tests @ 84.81
Seven
No of wickets claimed by Ravindra Jadeja so far in the two-match Test series vs WI
Brief scores
India 518-5d (Y Jaiswal 175, S Gill 129*, S Sudharsan 87, D Jurel 44, N Reddy 43; J Warrican 3-98) vs WI 140-4 (A Athanaze 41, T Chanderpaul 34, S Hope 31*; R Jadeja 3-37)