After two days of play in the second Test against the West Indies in New Delhi, India hold a 378-run lead with four wickets already scalped. Their batters have been in the runs throughout the series and those that needed confidence-boosting performances have made the most of the batting-friendly conditions in the national capital. Shubman Gill followed in Yashasvi Jaiswal’s footsteps in bringing up his ton here on Saturday, going unbeaten after scoring 129 from 196 balls. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Dhruv Jurel stayed steady with him through the day as India declared at 518 for 5 with each of their partnerships crossing the 50-run mark. Ravindra Jadeja came out and nabbed three wickets, leaving West Indies precariously hobbling at 140 for 4 at the close of play. It was difficult to tell, however, whether India’s domination had been a well-earned consequence of their all-round performance, or the simple fortune of their immediate counterparts abjectly failing to be a competitive, resilient presence. 𝙄.𝘾.𝙔.𝙈.𝙄 1️⃣2️⃣9️⃣* Runs 1⃣9️⃣6️⃣ Balls 1️⃣6️⃣ Fours 2️⃣ Sixes 👇 Relive #TeamIndia captain Shubman Gill's 🔟th Test Century 💯#INDvWI | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @ShubmanGill — BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2025 West Indies had their moments on Saturday. They were handed an early reprieve with Jaiswal’s bizarre run out and bowled a tight opening spell, but capitulated quickly after. Their openers negotiated the new ball astutely, and after a decent 67-run third-wicket partnership it looked like their batting was going to put up a fight. But self-inflicted wickets stalled the charge. Following India’s dominant display with the bat on Day 1, the numbers in the stands here at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds expanded substantially, with Jaiswal and Gill settled in for big scores. But disappointment greeted the fans after Jaiswal’s dismissal right at the start of the day. It was a total head loss between the wickets for India’s marquee batting stars; Jaiswal insisting on a quick single that was not there and landing halfway in the wicket, Gill failing to be persistent enough in his refusal of the run. It has been a recurring weakness for this team in recent years; this was the 17th instance since the start of 2023 that an Indian batter was run out. After a mammoth accumulation on Friday, Jaiswal departed having made just two runs on Day 2, missing out on the opportunity for a third Test double ton on this docile deck. But Gill made up for where Jaiswal missed out; immediately getting the early slip up out of his mind to romp his way to another classy, measured century. 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙂𝙞𝙡𝙡 ✨ A 💯 to savour from the #TeamIndia skipper 🫡 His first as Captain on home soil 🇮🇳 Updates ▶ | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/ocO5Hk5hrr — BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2025 Gill took off after being watchful of the seamers for the first half hour, keeping the scoring rate up and finding a boundary or two per over on either side of lunch. The drives were pumping in his quintessential style, following through on his free-swinging shots and milking the left-arm spinners through the off side, and brutally punishing anything that the fast bowlers left a tad too full. Compact technique It was a selection of scoring areas taken from Jaiswal’s Friday playbook, but given the Gill treatment with the Indian skipper’s more compact technique. Gill eventually brought up his hundred in 177 balls after starting the day’s play at 20 from 68 balls. It would be his 10th ton in Test cricket, five of those coming in the last seven Tests itself. His hundreds outnumber his fifties (8) in the longest format now. Captaincy is clearly suiting his batting just fine. And Gill’s two partners in the middle before the declaration would attest to the fact that the message had been clear from the dressing room about how quickly they want to get these runs, seemingly to have a go at the West Indies batters. Reddy was promoted up the order to get a proper look-in. He scored well (43 from 54) and hit some clean boundaries, but the tentativeness of his batting was evident in the many near-misses, including an easy dropped catch, a lucky escape off a thick outside edge, and a close lbw appeal. Leading from the front! 🔝 Moments to cherish for #TeamIndia and captain Shubman Gill 📸 Updates ▶ | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/QA8S64Pb4H — BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2025 None of that inspired much confidence. Dhruv Jurel arrived in the middle after his confidence-boosting hundred in Ahmedabad and then let rip as many chances as he got, targeting the spinners in particular and matching Gill for pace of scoring. Once his attempt to heave a Roston Chase length ball that stayed low castled his stumps, ending his innings at 44 from 79, Gill immediately declared. And West Indies started well. In seeing out the opening spell from Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, they were showing shades of a valiant form of resistance, especially after their batting has come under so much recent criticism. Later they even made a good account of themselves against India’s spinners on this deceptively slow track where spin was hard to generate. Campbell fell prey to a freak dismissal, a full-blooded sweep went straight at Sai Sudharsan, the ball striking his right hand and falling into his left, possibly injuring him in the process. From there, they only had themselves to blame. Four wickets fell and each were avoidable, from Chase’s timid tap straight back into Jadeja’s hands, to Chanderpaul’s misjudged nick to Rahul at first slip, to Athanaze’s heave straight to mid-on off a nothing shot. The resistance fell cheaply, and India, tails up, may look to finish this one well within time like they did in Ahmedabad.
