Last Updated on 29 seconds by Charbel Coorey
India, unsurprisingly, swept West Indies aside with ease in the first Test at Ahmedabad. Roston Chase won the toss on the first morning, and that’s where the joy ended for his team as they were thrashed by an innings and 140 runs inside three days.
In their next Test after being bowled out for 27 by Australia, West Indies struggled again on what was a good surface for batting at the Narendra Modi Stadium. After losing five wickets in the opening session, they were never able to recover, bowled out for 162.
It seemed far too little a total for their inexperienced attack to deal with. And so it proved. Hundreds to KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja drove India to 448/5, and they were happy to declare overnight with a lead of 286.
West Indies had the chance to put a good foot forward with the bat on day three, but they were no match. Jadeja won player of the match for his 4/54 to go with his unbeaten 104 as the visitors managed to last just 45.1 overs on day three. Mohammed Siraj (3/31), Kuldeep Yadav (2/23) and Washington Sundar (1/18) also chipped in.
The innings and 140-run margin is India’s third-biggest victory ever against West Indies. Also, the 89.2 overs the Windies batted is the lowest total they’ve faced in a Test against India where they have been bowled out twice.
Reactions to one-sided IND vs WI Test: Roston Chase voices concerns, fans call for two-tier Test structure
Windies captain Roston Chase didn’t mince words regarding the state of cricket in the Caribbean. He says there is a struggle for finances in the region and work must be done to strengthen its infrastructure.
“The systems in the Caribbean are a bit poor in terms of training facilities and stuff,” Chase said post-match, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “I am not using that as an excuse or something to hide behind for poor performances that we’ve been putting out lately. I still think that the onus is on the players to find some way to churn up runs and wickets and stuff.
“But what I would say is yes, there is obviously a struggle in the Caribbean for finances. So whatever help we can get, if they are planning to get the help, I hope that we do get it so that we could strengthen the infrastructure for cricket.”
Calls for a two-tier Test structure are growing following this result. It is in line with the CricBlog 2025 Future of Test cricket survey, where 55.1% of the 2,000+ respondents are in favour of a two-tier system, provided there is promotion and relegation.
Here are some of the reactions to India’s huge win.
West Indies have to pick themselves up quickly with the second Test starting on October 10 in Delhi. On current form, anything other than another India win would be a huge surprise.
