Ravindra Jadeja has been building a case to be one of the best allrounders in the game. A four-for to follow a hundred against West Indies to start the new home season was just the latest evidence Ravindra Jadeja offered in favour of that argument. On the back of Ravindra Jadeja’s 104 not out and 4 for 54, India completed an innings win with two-and-a-half days to spare.
A proud record stood tall between February 22, 2013 and October 25, 2024. It buckled 24 hours later. India lost a Test series on home soil for the first time in nearly 12 years. Many of the players who had contributed to that run are now retired, including Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara. But Ravindra Jadeja remains.
Ravindra Jadeja was there when India began that run against Australia in Chennai. e was there when New Zealand broke them last year in Pune. And he was there once again, lifting them back up against West Indies now. At 36 years old, it is unclear how much cricket is left in him but it was poetic that in the first of 66 Tests that India had to play at home without R Ashwin, his old pal Ravindra Jadeja came up with a hundred and a four-for.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : There are plenty of black soil and red soil pitches here, but today we’re playing on the red-soil surface. It’s been watered well to bind the surface, an even covering of grass, maybe more than previously, there’ll be a bit of swing for the pacers early on and some reverse swing later on. Spinners will come into play going deeper into the Test. It’s cold, there has been some inclement weather going into the game and there’s some moisture as well, an excellent Test wicket, reckons Deep Dasgupta and Daren Ganga, in the pitch report.
Toss : West Indies skipper Roston Chase won the toss and chose to bat with two seamers, two spinners and an all rounder in their playing XI. Indian skipper Shubman Gill bowling first got two seamers, three spinners and one all rounder in their playing XI.
Day 1 : Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah’s 4-fer alongside KL Rahul’s half-century underlines India’s domination on Day 1
Mohammed Siraj missed out on his maiden Test match five-fer at home but continued from where he left off in England as his 4 for 40 – his best figures in India – helped bundle West Indies out for 162 on the opening day of the series in Ahmedabad. Then KL Rahul also extended his fine run of form by getting to a solid half-century as India cut the deficit down to 41 in a dominant opening-day performance from the hosts to start the season.
West Indies have had starting troubles in Tests, as their openers haven’t stitched 50 runs together in 12 innings. Roston Chase hoped his batters would handle the first couple of hours on a green-tinged surface that had spent time under the covers with some rain in the build-up, but Tagenarine Chanderpaul and John Campbell exited in the first half hour.
Chanderpaul gifted his wicket to Mohammed Siraj, nicking one to Dhruv Jurel down the leg side. Bumrah then dragged Campbell into a drive and had him caught behind with a ball that swung in 1.5 degrees and seamed away 1.2 degrees. It still needed India to use a review.
West Indies looked for defiance and a fight from Alick Athanaze and Brandon King, but Siraj packed them both off in the space of 10 deliveries. On a morning where both the quicks were getting the ball to nip both ways and repeatedly induced false shots, Siraj set King up. He bowled a couple of nipbackers that King defended cautiously before driving a straighter one on the fourth stump line to cover. Siraj bowled the next in the same line, but King expecting it to shape away shouldered arms. The ball however, nipped back to hit the stumps.
For the left-handed Athanaze, Siraj changed angles from round the stumps and had him caught by KL Rahul at second slip. So early in the game, West Indies were already looking at their most experienced batting pair – Roston Chase and Shai Hope, for rescue work.They combined well in the second hour of the morning session and looked set to take West Indies to Lunch without further damage, only for Kuldeep Yadav to sully those plans with a ripper. A tossed up ball drifted, turned and lured Hope into a drive while it sneaked through to hit the stumps. That dismissal triggered lunch, a break that West Indies would’ve welcomed given the bruising start they endured to slip to 90 for 5.
The tune did not change when play resumed though even as West Indies went past 100. Siraj squared up Chase with a splendid delivery, the ball going to Jurel off the outside edge. Debutant Kharry Pierre hung around for a short alliance with Justin Greaves, before India’s sixth bowler Washington Sundar trapped him leg before.
West Indies went from 144/7 to 153/9 through two unplayable yorkers from Bumrah that floored the stumps. He then went on to bowl outside the off-stump to make room for a possible fifer for Siraj, but that was not to be. Kuldeep wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Jomel Warrican.
India’s openers, Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, batted sedately in the final session, going at just two runs an over before a spell of rain forced the players off. When they returned, the tempo of the innings changed with Jaiswal slamming seven boundaries in quick time. A search for the eighth brought about his downfall as he edged Jayden Seales to Hope behind the stumps after a 68-run opening wicket stand.
India also lost Sai Sudharsan for 7 when he rocked back onto the backfoot and missed a skidder from Roston Chase. But, Shubman Gill walked in to see through the remainder of the day’s play out while Rahul serenely worked himself towards his 19th Test match half-century.
Day 2 : KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja’s centuries deflates WI as India gains a solid 286 runs lead over WI
India went about burying West Indies under a mountain of runs as KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja hit hundreds to swell India’s lead to 286 by end of the second day’s play. Leeds, Manchester and now Ahmedabad – this is the third time in 2025 where India have had three centurions in a single innings. India went to stumps at 448/5.
The first hour on the second morning was perhaps a demonstration of how tough it can be for a visiting side with an inexperienced bowling unit to force their way through in India. Rahul and Shubman Gill barely broke a sweat before carrying India past the West Indies’ first-innings total by drinks.
West Indies had one chance to send Rahul packing when Jayden Seales eked out an outside edge. But, the first slip was stationed slightly wide so the ball flew between him and the keeper. Gill was in complete control in his essay, bringing up his eighth half-century in Tests.
On the other side of the drinks break, West Indies switched plans. Left-arm spinner Kharry Pierre, who had operated from round the stumps till then, switched sides in order to try and exploit the footmarks outside the leg stump. The line was also useful in trying to curb the easy flow of runs.
Rahul defended a couple of deliveries and then unfurled a pre-meditated reverse sweep. When Gill tried the same shot against Chase in the next over, who was bowling from round the stumps, he ended up hitting to the first slip. West Indies enjoyed an extended period of play where they plugged the flow of runs and the spinners used the rough patches well. Towards the end of the session, Rahul reached his 11th Test hundred, and only second at home.
India approached the post-Lunch session with the idea of repairing the scoring lull. Jomel Warrican tricked Rahul into hitting a tossed up delivery to Justin Greaves at extra cover, but Ravindra Jadeja and Jurel cranked up the attack. Jurel pulled Chase for the first six of the game over deep square leg and Jadeja gave Warrican the charge for two sixes over long on in the same over. The two batters constantly looked for scoring avenues as India’s lead grew.
Chase brought back Jayden Seales before the new ball was due, hoping to see reverse swing ruffle feathers. But that was not to be as Ravindra Jadeja and Jurel stretched India’s lead to 112 at drinks in the second session. With the odd ball keeping low and consistently turning sharply (average turn of 3 degrees as compared to 2.4 on Day 1), Chase kept at it with the old ball and his spinners.
Warrican switched ends but was in for the same treatment from Ravindra Jadeja. He hit a fourth six – all over long on, all against Warrican, to take his sixes tally (79) past MS Dhoni’s in Tests. Only Rishabh Pant (90), Virender Sehwag (90) and Rohit Sharma (88) have more in the format.
After taking the new ball in the 98th over, West Indies managed to dry up the boundaries for an extended period of play in the final session but were no closer to making an incision. Jurel got to his maiden Test century in the second half of the final session, showing the capability to fill the void left by Rishabh Pant’s absence.
He hit 15 fours and three sixes in his 210-ball 125 before Kharry Pierre had him caught behind, much against the run of play. But three overs later, Ravindra Jadeja reached his three-figure milestone. He ended the day as India’s second highest scorer in Tests in 2025, overtaking Rahul.
Day 3 : Ravindra Jadeja’s 4-fer gives India a thumping innings and 140 runs win over clueless WI batting
While Nitish Reddy’s athleticism handed Siraj the first wicket among pacers, it was Ravindra Jadeja (4/54) who followed up his unbeaten ton with a three-wicket burst to initiate a swift end to West Indies’ plight, reducing them to 66/5 at lunch.
Dhruv Jurel kept reminding Kuldeep Yadav from behind the stumps that the spinner was tough for the batters to read. Roston Chase was the first to pay the price for the said inability. Kuldeep bowled two tossed up deliveries to the West Indies captain that turned 5.6 degrees and 4.9 degrees inwards. On the third one, Kuldeep bowled a touch quicker and pulled the length back. The turn was much lesser – 2.1 degrees, that Chase did not account for. He got squared up and had his off-stump floored.
West Indies captain Roston Chase (1) was no match for Kuldeep’s brilliance, who tested him with an array of variations before bamboozling him with one that was shorter in length and straightened and knocked down his off-stump.
It didn’t take long for the fifth wicket to fall when the most dependable of the West Indies’ batters Shai Hope, pushing himself at No. 6, cut one outside off from Jadeja but Yashasvi Jaiswal was simply brilliant at short third man to quickly move to his right and take a diving catch to extend West Indies’ plight.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Roston Chase the losing West Indies skipper said : When you win the toss and get bowled out for 160-odd it is tough to come back from that. Not the performance we were looking for. We have to bat better especially in India, you have to put a big first innings total on the board.
Especially with the ball spinning, and pitch deteriorating, and going to the 4th and 5th day. I think that’s where you really fall down, that’s something we need to look at. Yeah, I had no problem with the decision.
Everyone wanted to bat first, although there was some moisture in the wicket. But this is a Test wicket, and there’s always going to have moisture on the first day of the Test match. But it’s just for the batsmen to go in there and play themselves, and dig in deep, and play past that moisture. I didn’t think the timing was off (referring to when they took the second new ball). I just thought that when we did take the second new ball, we didn’t make the batsmen play enough.
With that power on the ball, I think we need to test the batsmen’s technique a bit more. Try to see if we can make them walk, and probably bowl a bit more at the stumps. Well, batting is the main problem. I mean, you only have two batsmen out there at the time. And in the field, you have all 11 players out there, so it’s a bit easier as a fielding unit and a bowling unit.
But I think it’s just for the batsmen out there to form those partnerships. I think we probably didn’t even get any 50-run partnerships. And in cricket, it’s partnerships, whether you’re batting or bowling. I just think we need to string some batting partnerships together, and that will make it easier for us.
Shubman Gill the winning Indian skipper said : Yeah, I mean, six (toss) losses in a row, but as long as we keep winning the matches, it doesn’t matter for us, and it’s a perfect game for us, so very happy with the win. Honestly, I think this was a perfect game for us. Three centurions in the game, and I think we fielded really well in both innings, we don’t really have any complaints.
Yeah, definitely, and whenever you get a start, I think it was a pretty good wicket to bat on. We both (Jaiswal and himself) got starts but couldn’t convert, there were plenty of other batsmen who converted, so happy for them. When you’ve got quality spinners like them, it’s difficult to be able to rotate, but it’s good to have an option of too many, rather than not having that many options, but always difficult, that’s the challenge, and that’s the fun of playing in India.
You know, there will always be someone who will be out there, ready to get the job done for the team. The team is young and they came out with flying colours. (What has he learned as a captain) So many things, you know.
It’s hard to pin down on one or two things that I learnt, but I think over a period of two years, how we bonded as a team, and how we got ourselves out from tough situations and difficult situations, that was really pleasing for me to see, and we are still a learning side, and I think as long as we keep learning from experiences that we have, I think we’re going to be on the positive side of the match.
Ravindra Jadeja Player of the Match for his all round show said : Yeah, I have been working hard with my batting. We had a two-month off, there was no Test cricket or ODIs. I was working on my fitness and I went to the Centre of Excellence in Bangalore, worked on my skills and fitness there. Yeah, absolutely (on his recent batting form). I had been batting at number 8 and 9 a few years ago but now I got my place at 6. I have time to prepare myself and I can pace my innings.
I don’t need to hurry, I don’t need to rush unnecessarily. I can go out there, take my time and just pace my innings. I always love playing on red soil pitches. It’s fun because as a spinner you get more turn and bounce. So, always as a spinner you want that. I think I was enjoying it and as I got to know that we are playing on a red soil, I thought it would be okay for batting and bowling as well.
If the wicket is flat, you can score runs. If the ball is turning, then you can enjoy bowling on the red soil. Obviously I would like to thank the coach, captain and management and selectors because being a vice-captain you are always there as a team’s special member and that honour always pleased me. And yeah, whenever the team required, whatever suggestion or regarding anything, I am always there and happy to do it.
No, I am still not there (on being asked if he was the leader of the spin bowling department). Ash was there. I am not the captain. Kuldeep has also played many games for India. Washi (Sundar) has also played many games. So I think all in all, everyone is experienced enough and there’s no need to give unnecessary suggestions to anyone. So everybody is working hard. Everyone is positive. That’s good to see.
Another meek surrender from the West Indies, who lasted just 89.2 overs across both innings – a reflection of how poor they are in Test cricket. India began the day by declaring with a lead of 286, and it didn’t take long for Mohammed Siraj to make early inroads, aided by a stunning catch from Nitish Reddy to dismiss Tagenarine Chanderpaul.
From there, Ravindra Jadeja took charge, weaving his familiar web around an uncertain batting line-up and reducing the visitors to 46 for 5. There was a brief stand between Athanaze and Greaves, but Washington Sundar broke through before Siraj returned with a double strike in a single over. Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav polished off the tail to seal a comprehensive win and hand India a 1-0 lead in the series.
India kick-off their home season with a commanding victory, ticking nearly every box along the way. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja carried their rich form from the England tour, while Dhruv Jurel made the most of his chance in Rishabh Pant’s absence with a composed maiden century. Mohammed Siraj led the bowling attack superbly with 7 wickets in the match, well supported by the others.
For West Indies, it was another forgettable outing, disciplined in patches with the ball but utterly disappointing with the bat in both innings. They’ll need a significant turnaround to stay competitive in Delhi.
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