West Indies Test 2: India declare at 518/5; Gill unbeaten at 129

New Delhi: Skipper Shubman Gill continued his prolific year in Tests by remaining unbeaten on 129 – his tenth ton in the format – as India declared their first innings at 518/5 in 134.2 overs on day two of the second and final Test against West Indies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

Gill’s 129 not out, coming in 196 balls with the help of 16 fours and two sixes, is now his highest individual score in home Tests, going past the 128 he hit against Australia in Ahmedabad in March 2023.

The declaration came just after Dhruv Jurel was castled by West Indies skipper Roston Chase for 44, as India felt being powered to 518, thanks to a dominant batting display led by Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made 175, was enough to put a tired West Indies’ line-up into a daunting task now.

Resuming from 318/2, India added 200 runs before pulling the plug on their innings. Apart from Gill and Jaiswal, contributions from Jurel, B Sai Sudharsan (87) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (43) ensured India maintained momentum throughout their batting innings. Gill’s innings was marked by control and crisp timing, and after reaching his fifty, he accelerated with crisp strokeplay to finish unbeaten.

India’s focus will now shift to their spin trio - Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar - to exploit signs of variable bounce and turn on the black soil pitch. A few deliveries, including the one that dismissed Jurel, kept low, while others turned sharply, thus offering encouragement to the hosts’ spinners.

West Indies, who failed to bat out 50 overs in either innings of the previous Test in Ahmedabad, will hope to show greater resilience this time around, with the pitch still being more conducive to batting than it was at the previous venue.

Day two began with a heartbreak for India as Jaiswal’s bid for a third Test double hundred ended in a weird run-out on the second over.

IANS.