Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav led a clinical bowling performance to pick 5-82, his fifth five-wicket haul in the format, as India bowled out the West Indies for 248 in 81.5 overs on Day 3 of the second and final Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
With a commanding first-innings lead of 270 runs on a pitch which didn’t offer much turn and bounce, India have enforced the follow-on, leaving the West Indies with 49 overs to survive in the day and an uphill mountain to climb for pushing the match into day four.
Kuldeep, in supreme control with his guile, variations and drift, turned the tide for India in the morning session with a decisive burst, removing Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach and Justin Graves in quick succession. A late ninth-wicket stand worth 46 runs between Khary Pierre and Anderson Phillip offered brief resistance, but Jasprit Bumrah struck immediately after lunch with a peach to clean up the former.
The final wicket partnership of 27 runs tested India’s patience, with Phillip defending stoutly and Jayden Seales counter-attacking against Kuldeep. Seales eventually fell lbw to a well-disguised googly from Kuldeep, giving him his fifth wicket in a spell of 26.5 overs and sealing India’s big lead as well as their decision to enforce the follow-on.
The day began with overnight batters Shai Hope and Tevin Imlach looking comfortable for about 30 minutes against Kuldeep and Jasprit Bumrah, before the former’s stunning show with the ball began. Bowling from the North End, Kuldeep got a bit of drift on a flighted delivery and beat Hope’s forward defence to rattle the off-stump.
In his next over, Kuldeep ended Imlach’s resistance when he got one to turn in a lot and trap the wicketkeeper-batter plumb lbw. Though Justin Greaves kept the scoreboard ticking with two boundaries, he was eventually dismissed in a bid to reverse-sweep off Kuldeep, who got sharp drift and turn on a peach of a leg-break to trap him lbw.
Siraj became the first pacer to pick a wicket in the match when Jomel Warrican reached for a full ball outside off-stump, but chopped onto his stumps. At 175/8, a swift end to the West Indies’ innings was in sight, till Pierre and Phillip put up a solid resistance.
With the ball getting softer, the duo applied themselves to defend solidly and used their feet well to get the odd boundary for 15.3 overs before lunch was called. One would wonder if the resistance shown by Pierre and Philip will have any effect on whether India would take the follow-on option or not if the chance comes in the second session.
Seales had some fun being astute in his defence and getting boundaries with a mix of luck and rollicking shots. Shortly after the new ball was taken, Kuldeep beat the inside edge of Seales and trapped him lbw to give him his five-for.
West Indies will be pleased with the fact that their last three wickets made 74 runs, though it wasn’t sufficient to avoid the follow-on.
Brief Scores: India 518/5 in 134.2 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 175; Jomel Warrican 3-98) lead West Indies 248 in 81.5 overs (Alick Athanaze 41, Shai Hope 36; Kuldeep Yadav 5-82, Ravindra Jadeja 3-46) by 270 runs
