Team India skipper Shubman Gill was at the center of fan criticisms after the West Indies' second innings finally came to a close late on Day 4 of the second Test in Delhi. The hosts placed themselves in a dominant position after scoring 518/5 declared in the first innings and bundling the West Indies out for just 248.
However, they opened the door for the visitors to come back into the contest after Gill surprisingly opted to enforce the follow-on. The West Indian batters took the offer with both hands, moving to 271/3 at one stage in their second innings on the back of centuries from John Campbell and Shai Hope.
Yet, the Indian bowlers struck back, reducing the West Indian score from 271/3 to 311/9 moments before the tea break. Gill then resorted to bowling the spinners exclusively to the final pair, with the field often spread out.
West Indies added 79 runs for the last wicket before Jasprit Bumrah returned to the attack and immediately removed No.11 Jayden Seales. Despite the visitors piling on 390 in their second innings, Gill did not bowl all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy for even one over, after he went without a ball in the first innings as well.
Fans on X slammed Shubman Gill for his several poor captaincy moves with the following reactions:
I can't believe my eyes, Shubman Gill has spread the field & letting this last wicket partnership to develop without even challenging them while our team is going through the motions.
Team India is looking absolutely clueless on field waiting for West Indies 10th wicket pair of Seales & Greaves to make mistake They are just milking singles Jasprit Bumrah not bowling because of Load Management? CAPTAIN Shubman Gill welcome to Test cricket in India #INDvWI
Not Attacking field ❌ Easy Singles ❌ Not planned ❌ Poor captaincy by Quota Captain Shubman Gill, gives the easy Singles for lower order batsman. No proper plan for batsmen. Clueless captaincy 🤡 #ShubmanGill #BCCI #INDvsWI #INDvWI #TestCricket
Fans continued going hard at the Indian skipper for his questionable captaincy, with one saying:
"What a disastrous call by Gautam Gambhir, Enforcing the follow-on on West Indies was supposed to bury them, but look at this mess. Pathetic bowling from our side, no fire, no plan, just leaking runs everywhere. And Shubman Gill's captaincy? Absolute joke. field placements all over the place, no aggression, letting WI dictate terms. Another humiliation for Team India In GG era." "What has Shubman Gill done more than Shreyas iyer to deserve that captaincy ? Did he win the ipl ? Did he win something big in domestics ?," said a fan. "The moment a fast bowler came to bowl, West Indies lost the final wicket as all the other people watching already knew but Super Captain Shubman Gill thought that it was right to keep giving overs to spin bowlers from both ends. Conceded atleast 50-60 more runs. Absolute joke," a fan posted.Team India set a tricky final innings target in the second West Indies Test
The West Indies' incredible fightback in the second Test has left India with a tricky run-chase of 121 in their final innings. Team India enforced a follow-on in a Test for the first time since early 2022 against Sri Lanka.
Only four teams have ever lost a Test match after enforcing a follow-on on the opponent, and India will look to avoid becoming the fifth. The hosts won the series opener by a convincing innings and 140 runs.
A win in the ongoing second Test will make it a hat-trick of red-ball victories after their final Test win over England at the Oval.
India are in a spot of bother in their run chase at 13/1 with the first-innings centurion, Yashasvi Jaiswal, dismissed for eight.
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Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran