🏏India vs West Indies,2nd Test: New Delhi, Day 5🏏 - Page 6

Dominant opening day for India. Opting to bat, the openers batted cautiously against the new ball. They forged a fifty stand and remained unscathed in the first hour. Warrican provided the breakthrough in his very first over as he had Rahul stumped. Sai Sudharsan joined Jaiswal and the two left-handers stitched a big partnership. After being watchful in the first session, Jaiswal upped the ante after lunch to record his seventh Test century. Sai gave him good company by playing some delightful strokes to notch up his second Test half-ton. Greaves created the lone chance but Warrican dropped Sudharsan on 58 and the visitors failed to pick a wicket in the post-lunch session. The final session saw a dip in the scoring rate, thanks to some disciplined bowling. Warrican broke the 193-run stand by trapping Sudharsan lbw on 87. Captain Gill slogswept twice against Khary Pierre but he was subdued in his approach with a solid defensive technique. Jaiswal, meanwhile, crossed 150 for the fifth time in his Test career and he's hungry for more. While the visitors didn't allow their opponents to score freely in the final session, they couldn't exert pressure consistently to force the batters to make an error. Warrican got the ball to spin 8.4 degrees and 6.4 degrees to dismiss Rahul and Sudharsan respectively but apart from those two deliveries, spin wasn't hard to counter. India on top and they'll look to bat big

India batting on the opening day of a home Test since 2024

336/6 vs Eng Vizag

326/5 vs Eng Rajkot

339/6 vs Ban Chennai

46 allout vs NZ Bengaluru

318/2 vs WI Delhi

Session breakdon

Morning: 94/1 in 28 overs | RR 3.35 | FS% 7.7 | Attack% 22.0

Afternoon: 126/0 in 30 overs | RR 4.20 | FS% 4.4 | Attack% 37.7

Evening: 98/1 in 32 overs | RR 3.06 | FS% 9.3 | Attack% 26.5

Kid Jaiswal is playing very well !

Waiting to see the infant Suryavanshi to enter into the Test team.

A superb century from Yashasvi Jaiswal and a steady, elegant knock from Sai Sudharsan put India in control of proceedings on Day 1. The hosts piled on more than 300 runs on a pitch that offered true bounce and value for shots, capitalizing fully on the batting-friendly conditions. To their credit, the West Indian bowlers maintained discipline and kept the extras to a minimum, in fact, they didn’t concede an extra at all, but they struggled to find consistent breakthroughs. Warrican did manage to extract some sharp turn, claiming two wickets, yet India largely dictated terms throughout the day. A dropped catch further hurt the visitors’ chances of applying pressure.

Overall, it was a commanding batting performance from India. The surface has shown signs of slowing down, and the spinners are beginning to get some grip and turn - a trend likely to grow as the match progresses. Having posted 448 in Ahmedabad previously, India will once again aim for a massive total today. Jaiswal eyes a potential double hundred, while Gill appears poised to convert his start into something substantial. Day 2 promises plenty of action, and it’s not far away from resuming..

Pitch Report | Daren Ganga: "It looks like a 3rd/4th day pitch. Because of the wear and tear, it's a very dry surface, but I still think it will be good for batting. The spinners have a chance of using their conditions to their advantage, and that is something that I'd like to see the West Indian spinners do. Try to use the rough areas as their guide to pitch the ball into those areas, to bring those variabilities of bounce. The other end has more grass. Naturally, you would think that captains will operate their pace bowlers because the grass layer is more intense. The surface has a couple of bare spots and bowlers could probably get variability in terms of pace, and maybe bounce too. So, there's enough in that pitch to keep bowlers interested."

No other opening batter has scored 7 hundreds in Test cricket since Yashasvi Jaiswal made his debut.

India's young opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal entered record books on Day 1 of the second Test against West Indies in New Delhi as he slammed his seventh hundred in the format. Jaiswal, opening the batting for India, proved why he is one of the most promising cricketing talents in the game. At the age of 23, Jaiswal is scoring hundreds against opponents from all across the globe, in different conditions. On Friday, Jaiswal became the second youngest Indian to reach a tally of 7 Test hundreds, leaving behind even greats like Virat Kohli and Sunil Gavaskar.

By reaching the triple-digit score against the Windies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Jaiswal joins an elite group, with only three players in history managing to score more Test hundreds before turning 24.

The elite list is headed by the GOAT Sir Don Bradman (12), the legendary Sachin Tendulkar (11), and the magnificent Sir Garfield Sobers (9). Among Indians, Tendulkar is the only player to have scored 7 or more centuries before turning 24.

Also, Jaiswal now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with other modern-day greats who also had seven centuries to their name at the age of 24 in their careers, including Javed Miandad, Graeme Smith, Sir Alastair Cook, and Kane Williamson. The trend does indicate that Jaiswal is on his way to becoming a great.

Hundreds by India's openers since Jaiswal's debut:

7 - Yashasvi Jaiswal
6 - All others combined

Even internationally in the period since his arrival on the Test stage, the next most prolific opener from any other team is England's Ben Duckett, who has registered a total four centuries. The record, hence, puts Jaiswal at the pinnacle of opening batters in Test cricket at the moment.

The West Indies players are in a huddle. Final inputs from captain Chase before they disperse. There's a cheer from the crowd as the Indian batters make their way out to the middle. Gill was very defensive last evening. Will that approach change today? On the other hand, can West Indies make inroads with this 8-over-old second new ball? Let's find out. Here's Anderson Phillip from over the wicket with two slips and a gully in position..

Anderson Phillip to Gill, FOUR, 131.8kph, full delivery on middle-leg, Gill shuffles to flick and gets a thick inside edge that goes very fine to the fine leg fence.

India --325/2