India vs WI: Yashasvi Jaiswal makes it India’s day at Kotla

It was a good day to win the first toss of Shubman Gill’s short career as India’s Test captain so far, putting his team into bat on a flaccid black soil pitch which was unlikely to give even the most refined bowlers too much to work with. After the opening spell with the new ball, arguably the only decent period of bowling which was still comfortably seen out by Jaiswal and KL Rahul, it was clear that West Indies would be made to struggle here.

Only Sachin Tendulkar has more Test centuries than Yashasvi Jaiswal before the age of 24 among Indians. (PTI Photo)

Incessant talk about cricket in the Caribbean being in a state of ‘crisis’ had dominated headlines after their capitulation in Ahmedabad, where they lost by an innings in under three days. If they felt exaggerated last week, the assessment was made to look essentially accurate as West Indies were made to sweat on this pleasant October day, toiling all over the small ground of this famous old stadium for much of the day’s play.

Even the wickets were a result of freak deliveries. Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican was the pick of the bunch, finding turn on a relatively docile surface and mixing up his paces. But the two dismissals he picked up were anomalies. He flighted the ball to Rahul, who came down the track and was bamboozled as the ball spun massively and was stumped comfortably. A good four hours later, he landed a quicker one on a good length that nipped back sharply into B Sai Sudharsan’s pads, the 23-year-old caught trapped on his back foot. The spin for the Rahul dismissal was 8.4 degrees, for Sudharsan it was 6.4. Warrican’s average spin was about 2.6 on the day.

Off the fifth ball that Shubman Gill faced as he entered the field for the last hour, he planted his front foot firmly in line with a fullish ball from Khary Pierre, negating the spin and slog-sweeping him over mid-wicket for four. It was the shot of a player that spent most of the day licking his lips in anticipation of having a bat on this pitch against this opposition. Midway through the day, the crowds in the stands thronged to the front of the boundary to greet Mohammed Siraj after his net session; he was having a batting session, not bowling. These conditions even have India’s tail wagging ahead of Saturday.

Sudharsan comes good

Perhaps one of the bigger positives for India on a day they hardly had any negatives was that Sudharsan was in the runs. The Tamil Nadu batter, on whom the Indian management has rested big hopes at No 3, arrived here after a cheap dismissal in Ahmedabad but did not miss this opportunity to milk easy runs.

He saw out the tricky phase before lunch with aggression, finding boundary balls when he could, and played his part in the post-lunch offensive with Jaiswal. The two put together a 193-run stand for the second wicket that had the kind of deflating effect on the West Indies that could have taken this match away from them already.

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak would praise the technically sound nature of Sudharsan’s 165-ball 87. “I think his back-foot game is (sound),” he told reporters on Friday. “A lot of the balls (against spin) that he played on the back foot today, most other players would negotiate on the front foot. The amount of power he generates on the back foot is also amazing. He bats equally well against pace and spin.”

But Kotak warned of a few limitations, too, which were on display when contrasted with Jaiswal’s free-wheeling innings. “Some of the very full balls, too, he plays on the back foot though, which we are trying to work with him to cut out. And also the outside off-stump line, which he should easily play on the front foot instead (of being planted on the back foot),” he said.

The day, though, belonged without a doubt to Jaiswal. With a refined game, once he got his eye in, ensured his seventh Test century turned into a big one.

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