Dominant India eye clean sweep against beleaguered West Indies at Kotla

The gulf between the two teams was laid bare in the opening Test at Ahmedabad, where India crushed a listless West Indies inside three days. When the sides walk out for the second and final Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla here on Friday, the hosts will have their sights set on another dominant finish, and a 2-0 clean sweep that would neatly erase memories of last year’s stumble against New Zealand.

A win in Delhi would lift India’s World Test Championship (WTC) points percentage to 61.9, keeping them firmly in the top three. The difference between the two teams is as much about mindset as it is about skill, especially in red-ball cricket. India’s dressing room buzzes with direction, belief and hunger. West Indies, by contrast, continue to drift, a team with history but without purpose.

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Come Friday, India is expected to dominate the proceedings but the team management will be keen to use the opportunity to assess Sai Sudharsan’s temperament and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s value as a seam-bowling all-rounder in home conditions.

Ever since making his Test debut during the tour of England, Sudharsan’s graph has been far from impressive with six low scores in his lastseven innings. In contrast, the rest of India’s top order, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill, have all been among the runs, with Rahul notching three centuries in his last six Tests.

With wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja also contributing heavily, Sudharsan will be eager to make his mark and justify the faith of his captain.

Nitish, meanwhile, continues to impress the team management with his discipline and work rate. His primary role remains with the ball, offering balance to an already formidable side, though his ability to chip in with useful runs adds another dimension to India’s depth.

For West Indies, however, the situation is bleak. Their innings defeat in the first Test was another reminder of how far they have slipped in red-ball cricket. Their batting folded inside 90 overs, and their bowlers, barring Jayden Seales, rarely looked threatening.

The absence of strike bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph in Ahmedabad didn’t help, and in Delhi, they may once again depend heavily on their spinners for breakthroughs.

Head coach Daren Sammy didn’t mince words ahead of the match, describing West Indies’ decline as “a terminal disease, the cure of which looks improbable at the moment.”

The Kotla pitch, made of black soil, is expected to play true and offer value for shots. Should India bat first, another three-day finish may not be far-fetched.

Squads:

India: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (Wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Axar Patel, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Devdutt Padikkal.

West Indies: Roston Chase (Captain), Teganarine Chanderpaul, John Campbell, Alick Athanaze, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Justin Greaves, Kharry Pierre, Shai Hope, Jayden Seals, Jamel Warrican, Kevlon Anderson, Jediah Blades, Tevin Imlach, Anderson Phillip.