As West Indies coach Daren Sammy arrived shortly after his side's first training session at Feroz Shah Kotla began, ahead of the second Test starting here on Friday, one of the first things he did after going into the nets was look up to the assembly of local net bowlers and ask how many of them were left-arm spinners. After Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav took eight of their 20 wickets in West Indies innings defeat in the first Test in Ahmedabad, the challenge of playing spin, and particularly the left-armers, seemed to be playing on their minds throughout their training on Wednesday. The previous defeat put an unflattering glare on the West Indians' ignominious recent record in the longest format - they have won just 23 of their last 87 Test series - with former greats criticising both the national set up and its recent crop of players, and members of the cricket cognoscenti throwing around words like 'crisis' to describe their current predicament. New Venue, New Energy. The #MenInMaroon in full flow on Wednesday in Delhi.#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/mSO5oK4lMl— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) October 8, 2025 In a moment like this, to plot their recovery and potentially draw this series, on the road against a formidable team high on confidence, may be a psychologically daunting task. But there were little signs of mental fatigue from the playing group, who were in high spirits and looked focused on improving the specific areas of their game that failed them last week. Chief among those was batting against spin. While the fast bowlers too put in a shift on Wednesday, the top order of this side has been formulated keeping spin in mind, and their top three, each left-handers, took turns to face a plethora of deliveries from their own spinners and the locals. Both Jomel Warrican and Khary Pierre, also left arm spinners, bowled incessantly against West Indies' rotating batters in the nets. The two bowled more than anyone else in Ahmedabad, 29 overs a piece, but combined only for two wickets, leaving plenty to be desired. And Tagenarine Chanderpaul and John Campbell especially, looked to fine-tune their own game against them, pulling out the sweeps and reverse sweeps as well as working on their forward defence and attempting to find control over their stroke-making by accurately judging flight and pitch. After India rolled out raging turners and ended up with a 0-3 washout against New Zealand at home last year, they have been considerably retrained in preparing the pitches for this season. In Ahmedabad, there was plenty in the surface for the seamers in the first innings, and India's batting showed runs were up for grabs. Ground realities But quintessential Kotla conditions are expected in the national capital this week. If recent history is to be considered, especially in the shorter formats, there are plenty of runs on offer on this flatter wicket with this old stadium's shorter boundaries. A black soil surface that will likely aid the spinners as the Test wears on may be on show. India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate warned as much in a news conference on Wednesday. "One side of the pitch looks quite dry. It's a bit early to say right now but I don't think there's a lot in this pitch for the seam bowlers, and that's what you can expect in Delhi," he said. So the West Indies think tank likely believes that their tweakers' performance, and their own batting against India's spin battery, may hold the key in finding a comeback in this series. It may also prove revitalising to a team that is supremely low on confidence and facing the ire from onlookers all over the world.
