The batsman Shubman Gill took the lead with his tenth century, and then skipper Gill allowed his strike-bowler Ravindra Jadeja enough time to tighten the noose on the West Indies as India got close to yet another decisive victory in the second Test on Saturday in New Delhi.
In the post-lunch session, Gill (129 not out) easily reached his century against a weak bowling attack, but he showed no concern for an easy double hundred that seemed certain. He declared, an hour after lunch, when the Indian innings had reached 518/5.
‘Gill the batter’ and ‘Gill the captain’ were in perfect sync, which was the day’s highlight. Even though he had plenty of time to improve his own statistics, the captain refrained from allowing the ‘batter’ to take over in an attempt to gain personal glory.
The pitch wasn’t particularly worn out, but it was still good enough for Ravindra Jadeja (3/37) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/45) to reduce West Indies to 140/4 in 43 overs.
Watching the application from some of the Caribbean bats would not have been entertaining for Viv Richards and Brian Lara, who were sitting in the stands.
Given how he was dismissed, John Campbell would consider himself extraordinarily unlucky. Sai Sudharsan was attempting an evasive move when his full-blooded sweep, which should have gone for a boundary, crashed against his knuckle and got stuck.
However, Jadeja and Kuldeep scored quickly after Tagenarine Chanderpaul (34) and Alick Athanaze (41) added 66 runs.
Chanderpaul was caught in slips by KL Rahul when he dabbed one down to third man, attempting to open the bat’s face.
Athanaze fell to a forgettable hoick after being lured into the shot by Kuldeep, with Jadeja completing a simple catch at mid-wicket. Soon after, skipper Roston Chase (0) gifted a soft return catch to Jadeja, triggering yet another familiar West Indies collapse.
Gill, who is becoming more and more astounding every day as captain, was the focus of the second day.
After deciding to up the ante after lunch, the captain, who faced 196 deliveries, hit 16 boundaries and two sixes, added 91 for the fourth wicket with Nitish Kumar Reddy (43) and 102 for the fifth wicket with Dhruv Jurel (44).
India batted for 44.2 overs on the second day, adding 200 runs to their overnight total of 318 for two.
Gill scored three runs off of a cut shot from Khary Pierre to get his century. Aside from a half-century in the previous game, the captain’s fifth century in the last seven Test matches show that the batter in him hasn’t exactly been impacted.
Gill maintained his focus throughout the day, controlling the game’s pace as he saw fit, despite Yashasvi Jaiswal (175) being run-out at the beginning of the day.
Gill would hit over the top when the field was brought up and would unavoidably play on the on-side if West Indies captain Chase filled the off-side field.
Chase was compelled to maintain a deep point and a deep square leg in order to reduce boundaries after a barrage of them were hit. That enabled Gill to take those singles and doubles by utilizing the vast gaps.
The shot that brought up Gill’s second fifty of the series was the best of the morning session, by a long way.
Jayden Seales bowled on middle-leg with Gill flicking it through the empty mid-wicket area in a crowded off-side field. Gill was able to take advantage of Justin Greaves’s lack of speed when he was introduced into the attack and lofted him over mid-wicket for a six.
Gill, who had chosen to play cautiously during the final hour on Day 1, returned with a renewed approach. Benefiting from Anderson Phillip’s erratic lines, he unleashed a series of boundaries, including a crisp flick behind square when the bowler strayed onto his pads.
With the same objective and the same outcome, Phillip was cut square of the wicket in his subsequent over, once in front and once a little late behind square. Gill stepped out and hit over extra cover after the keeper was pulled up to the stumps with a ‘7-2’ off-side field during an on-drive.
A run-out appeared to be Jaiswal’s sole option for dismissal (175), and Gill may share some of the blame since Jaiswal called for the run after he had pushed it just to the right of mid-off.
However, by stumps on the second day, Gill had more than made up for his morning error.
