India complete clean sweep against West Indies but questions remain ahead of SA Tests

The formalities took just about an hour to complete as India defeated West Indies by seven wickets in the second and final Test here on Tuesday for a 2-0 series sweep during which the markedly superior hosts were tested only towards the end.

Besides reaffirming India’s home supremacy, the triumph will also go down as Shubman Gill’s first series victory as India’s Test captain.

Needing just 58 runs to reach the target of 121, KL Rahul (58 not out off 108 balls), with Dhruv Jurel for company (6 not out) completed the task in 35.2 overs on the final day of the game.

Rahul hit six fours and two sixes, adding 79 with Sai Sudharsan (39) for the second wicket.

While the second Test dragged into the fifth morning — largely because of the resistance from centurions John Campbell (115) and Shai Hope (103), and a dogged 10th-wicket stand — the Feroz Shah Kotla track offered little assistance to spinners, remaining low and slow throughout.

Across two Tests, Indian bowlers claimed all 40 opposition wickets, with pacers contributing admirably on unhelpful surfaces and spinners showing patience when conditions turned docile at the Kotla.

For Indian batters, there were five centuries and a near-90 among the top six across two matches.

“I am getting used to managing this side. Sometimes you have to take bold decisions,” said a beaming Gill at the presentation ceremony.

Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged player of the match for his haul of eight wickets in the game, including a first innings fifer, while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was deservedly the player of the series for his brilliant show with both bat and ball.

Yet, when viewed in context, given that none of the West Indies top-order batters currently average even 35 in Test cricket, let alone 40 which is considered the benchmark, the gains, beyond the valuable World Test Championship points, appear limited.

Adding to that, apart from Jayden Seales, most West Indian bowlers lacked substantial first-class experience.

Seales, incidentally, went wicket-less in the match while Jomel Warrican added one scalp to the three he picked up in the first innings.

Despite the late spark shown by his side, Roston Chase became just the second West Indies captain to lose all his first five Tests as leader after Kraigg Brathwaite.

“I think the guys we have here are some of the best players in the Caribbean. So it’s just for us to use this last Test match as a stepping stone…We just have to keep improving as much as we can from here,” Chase said at the presentation ceremony.

India’s real test will come against South Africa in a two-Test rubber next month, and if the first two days of the Proteas ongoing series against Pakistan is any indication, turn and variable bounce will be key factors.

Out of the 16 wickets to fall across those two days, 15 were claimed by spinners.

That raises a pertinent question — whether playing on flat batting tracks against a much stronger South African line-up would be a prudent choice.

A batting order featuring Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs and Tony de Zorzi is several notches above this West Indies side.

If Indian spinners struggled to dismiss a below-par Caribbean unit on a placid pitch, it could get trickier against the Proteas.

For head coach Gautam Gambhir, the scars of last year’s home series whitewash against New Zealand still run deep. Yet, preparing rank turners remains a double-edged sword.

This Indian batting line-up, apart from KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, is relatively young.

However, both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill now possess enough experience to handle challenging surfaces.

It is worth remembering that the now retired Virat Kohli’s Test average dipped during the phase when India regularly played on rank turners.

But those same pitches helped Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja evolve into world-beaters.

On less helpful tracks, neither Jadeja nor Washington Sundar — both finger spinners — appear half as threatening.

Kuldeep Yadav, being a wrist spinner, remains a more potent option under such conditions.

Also Read: After Ahmedabad win, India expected to clean sweep Windies in Delhi

The venues for the upcoming two-Test series against South Africa will, therefore, be crucial in assessing where India stand as a Test side at home — especially with no red-ball cricket scheduled for the next eight months before the away series in Sri Lanka.

At Eden Gardens, the surface has rarely been a rank turner.

Traditionally, it offers assistance to seamers during the early and late hours of play but otherwise remains a good batting wicket where bowlers must work hard for success.

As for Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, which will host its first-ever Test match, the element of the unknown remains — both in terms of pitch behaviour and match dynamics.