India's runaway win over the West Indies in the first Test in Ahmedabad was so routine that news of their captain Shubman Gill being elevated to skipper in the ODI format ended up dominating the headlines more than the match itself. However, a victory like that against the West Indies back when batting great Sunil Gavaskar played would have sent shockwaves around the world, which is what the former India captain noted when lamenting the continuing fall of the Caribbean side's fortunes in Test cricket. India won the Test by an innings and 140 runs. While the West Indies are missing two key pacers in Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph, their fast bowling spearhead Jayden Seales managed to take just one wicket in India's lone innings, although he also maintained an economy of 2.78 in 1 overs. Gavaskar said that apart from Seales, the other pacers were "simply trundlers". "In Ahmedabad, apart from Jayden Seales, the other two were simply trundlers, who looked more like net bowlers than international ones," said Gavaskar in his column for Sportstar. "No disrespect intended to them, but to see the first bouncer being bowled after half a dozen overs had been bowled made one ask, ‘Is this really the West Indies pace attack?’ Yes, bowling bouncers is a big effort, and on a hot day, it can take a lot out of a bowler, but it is a surprise weapon to stop the batter from moving on to the front foot regularly." 'For a team that once boasted of Viv Richards, Cluve Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge.' Gavaskar also noted that it was only Alick Athanaze and Justin Greaves who looked like they wanted to grind it out with the bat. Greaves was West Indies' highest scorer in the first innings with just 32 runs and Athanaze top scored in the second with just 38. In stark contrast, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja all scored centuries while Gill scored exactly 50 runs. Gavaskar contrasted the kind of dominance that was exerted by the West Indies batters of the past. "For a team that once boasted of the likes of the Three Ws, Rohan Kanhai, Seymour Nurse, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, to name just a few, there is simply nobody in this current team who looks like getting a million country miles close to them. Of course, I haven’t forgotten the incomparable Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards and the ‘Prince of Trinidad’, Brian Lara. They are geniuses born once in a century and were way above normal human beings," he said. In the time that Gavaskar played between 1971 and 1987, India played West Indies in 31 Test matches and won just five of them while the latter won 10. Quite incredibly, West Indies have not been able to beat India in a Test match since 2002. In this period, the two sides have played each other 25 times and India have won 15 of them.
