India crush West Indies by 10 wickets, seal series 2-0

India registered their tenth consecutive Test series win at home as Virat Kohli’s men crushed the West Indies by 10 wickets in the second and final cricket Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Sunday.

Once again, it was a cakewalk for India in the second innings after being handed a paltry 72-run target by the tourists. Openers Prithvi Shaw (33 not out) and Lokesh Rahul (33 not out) guided the side home with ease in just 16.1 overs on the third day of the Test.

After scoring 367 runs in their first innings in reply to the West Indies’ 311, India bowled out the visitors for 127 runs in the second innings on Sunday, setting themselves a 72-run target.

Pacer Umesh Yadav was the wrecker-in-chief with match figures of 10/133 and became the third Indian pacer with a ten-wicket haul in a home Test.

The right-armer, who had figures of 6/88 in the first innings, bagged four wickets in the second innings conceding 45 runs and was also adjudged the ‘Man of the Match’.

India had crushed the tourists by an innings and 272 runs in the first Test at Rajkot.

On Sunday, India resumed the proceedings at 308/4 and lost five wickets in quick succession before Ravichandran Ashwin (35) and Shardul Thakur (4 not out) added 28 runs for the last wicket.

Pacer and skipper Jason Holder returned with impressive figures of 5/56 as he shattered the Indian lower middle order.

Ajinkya Rahane (80) fell to Holder early in the morning session after adding just five runs to his overnight score.

Holder then dismissed Ravindra Jadeja on a duck, while pacer Shannon Gabriel packed back a well settled Pant (92) to leave India reeling at 322/7.

Kuldeep Yadav too fell cheaply to Holder after contributing six runs while Umesh Yadav (2) also failed to make much impact as India’s scorecard read 339/9.

Ashwin and Shardul then showed some resistance to take their side past the 350-run mark.

Gabriel finally performed the last rites as he bowled out Ashwin as India managed to take a 56-run lead in reply to the West Indies’ first innings total of 311 runs.

In the post-lunch session, the visitors looked to be in a hurry as the Indian bowlers came all guns blazing to demolish the Caribbean top-order, who were tottering at 45/4 at one stage.

Sunil Ambris (38) tried to put up a fight but lacked support from the other end as the entire team fell like a pack of cards and could only manage to put on 127 runs, handing India a meagre 72-run target.

Apart from Umesh, off-spinner Ravindra Jadeja looked good for his three wickets, conceding just 12 runs.

The two sides will now clash in the five-match ODI rubber, starting October 21 in Guwahati.

Brief scores:

West Indies: 311 and 127 (Sunil Ambris 38, Shai Hope 28; Umesh Yadav 4/45) lost to India: 367 and 75/0 (Lokesh Rahul 33 not out, Prithvi Shaw 33 not out) by 10 wickets.