India complete 2-0 series sweep on fifth morning

KL Rahul hit a fifty as he and Dhruv Jurel took India to a 2-0 series win on the fifth morning in Delhi. Even with only 58 more to defend, West Indies kept up their fight as Roston Chase had Sai Sudharsan nicking to Shai Hope at first slip. Rahul was resolute in defence to start off before using his feet well against spin from both ends. Shubman Gill went after Chase as well to hasten India’s win. But he too fell, mistiming a big shot against his opposite number. India still completed the win just inside the first hour’s play.

That this game got to Day 5 after the Ahmedabad fixture finished in three, was down to West Indies’ improved batting show. In Ahmedabad, they batted just 44.1 and 45.1 overs, but nearly doubled that tally in the first innings in Delhi. Shubman Gill still enforced the follow-on, and that kept his bowlers out in the field for even longer – 118.5 overs, as West Indies put up an admirable show of resistance. A team that suffered an ignominious 27 all out before arriving in India ended this tour with an essay 390.

While that effort was important, it wasn’t enough to turn the tide completely. They kept India in the field almost all of Day 4 but were undone towards the end by the odd ball keeping low. India still had to endure a push back from the final-wicket pair of Justin Greaves and Jayden Seales but shortly after taking the lead past 100 runs, that too was brought to an end.

Yashasvi Jaiswal showed urgency in chase of 121 but holed out in the second over. Rahul and Sai Sudharsan came together to see off the rest of the day, and were intent on polishing off what remained on the fifth morning. West Indies denied them that with a couple of wickets but India still sauntered to a win.