India declare at 518/5 riding on Gill ton, WI 26/1 at tea
NEW DELHI: Shubman Gill cruised to his 10th hundred as India decided to declare at a sizeable first innings score of 518 for five one hour into the post-lunch session on the second day of the second Test here.
By the time tea was called, West Indies reached 26 for 1 in 11 overs.
Opener John Campbell was back in the hut after his full blooded sweep shot off Ravindra Jadeja found Sai Sudharsan, who tried to defend himself as the ball was about to ram into his chest.did thud into his right knuckle and stayed put, leaving Campbell stunned.
The skipper didn’t go for personal glory once Dhruv Jurel (44 off 79 balls) was cleaned up while trying to pull Roston Chase.
There was enough time for Gill (129 not out) to complete a double hundred but stacking numbers against a below-par bowling attack would have counted for little in long run.Gill’s century came with a cut shot off Khary Pierre that got him three runs.
With his fifth century in last seven Tests apart from a half-century in the previous game, the skipper showed that the batter in him hasn’t exactly been affected.If the West Indies skipper Chase packed the off-side field, Gill inevitably played on the on-side.
Once a flurry of boundaries were hit, Chase was forced to keep a deep point and a deep square leg to cut down on boundaries.
That helped him use the wide gaps to take those singles and doubles.
With Nitish Kumar Reddy (43 off 54 balls), promoted to get some valuable batting time and prop up the score in quick time, Gill added 91 for the fourth wicket with him in just 17.1 overs.When Justin Greaves was brought into the attack, his lack of pace allowed Gill to step out and loft him over mid-wicket for his first six.
Gill, who had decided to defend during the final hour of the opening day, came out with a different mindset.He put on 91 runs with Reddy, who survived a dropped catch on 20 when Anderson Phillip spilled an easy chance at mid-off to leave left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican frustrated.
Warrican finally had the batter caught out at long-on with his left-arm spin for his third wicket and celebrated with a fist pump.
Jaiswal was the hero on Friday after he registered his fifth 150-pus score in Tests and put on 193 runs for the second wicket with Sai Sudharsan, who made 87.
It only helped that Anderson Phillip sprayed all over and was hit for a flurry of boundaries.
A delivery on the pads was quickly dispatched behind square on the leg-side.
The best shot of the morning session and that too by a distance was the one that brought u
Even as Yashasvi Jaiswal (175, 258 balls) was unfortunately run-out at the start of the day, Gill’s concentration didn’t waver as he controlled the tempo of the game as
It was about one hour into second session and Gill got a signal from the dressing room that it is about time to put the visitors in for an awkward hour.