India defeated West Indies by seven wickets in the second and final Test on Tuesday to sweep the series 2-0 in a one-sided affair. Needing just 58 runs to reach the target of 121 on the final day of the match, KL Rahul (58 not out off 108 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (6 not out) achieved the target within one hour of the opening session. completed the task in 35.2 overs on the final day of the game.
Rahul hit six fours and two sixes, adding 79 with Sai Sudharsan (39) for the second wicket as India reached the total in in 35.2 overs. This is Shubman Gill's first series win as India's Test captain.
While the second Test was stretched to the fifth morning largely because of the resistance from centurions John Campbell (115) and Shai Hope (103), and a dogged 10th-wicket stand, the Feroz Shah Kotla track offered little assistance to spinners, remaining low and slow throughout.
Indian bowlers claimed all 40 opposition wickets in the two Tests with pacers doing rather well at Feroz Shah Kotla on a surface which did not offer them much. Spinners also kept at it even after the wicket turned flat as the game progressed, and their doggedness was eventually rewarded. Indian batsmen scored five centuries and a near-90 in the two matches.
"I am getting used to managing this side. Sometimes you have to take bold decisions," said Gill at the presentation ceremony.
Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged player of the match for his haul of eight wickets, including a first innings fifer, while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the player of the series for his brilliant all-round performance.
The West Indies team was found wanting with both the ball and the bat. While none of the West Indies top-order batsmen currently average even 35 in Test cricket, West Indian bowlers other than Jayden Seales lack substantial first-class experience. Seales, however, went wicket-less in the match while Jomel Warrican added one wicket to the three he had picked up in the first innings.
Despite the late spark shown by his side, Roston Chase became only the second West Indies captain to lose all his first five Tests after Kraigg Brathwaite. "I think the guys we have here are some of the best players in the Caribbean. So it's just for us to use this last Test match as a stepping stone...We just have to keep improving as much as we can from here," Chase said at the presentation ceremony.
It won’t be so easy against Proteas
India's real test will, however, come against South Africa in a two-Test rubber next month, and if the first two days of the Proteas’ ongoing series against Pakistan are any indication, turn and variable bounce will be the key factors. Out of the 16 wickets that fell across the two days, 15 were claimed by spinners.
Playing on flat batting tracks against a much stronger South African line-up can be counter-productive. South Africa’s batting order featuring Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs and Tony de Zorzi is several notches above the West Indies side. If Indian spinners struggled to dismiss a below-par Caribbean unit on a placid pitch, it could get trickier against the Proteas.
Also read: India close in on 2-0 sweep
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