A few hours after West Indies were done with their net session at the Feroz Shah Kotla, India, who lead the series 1-0 after a comfortable innings victory in Ahmedabad last week, came out for a high-intensity session of their own; as can be expected two days before the start of the second Test here.
If the West Indies session was marked by an emphasis on improving their batting against tweakers, and particularly left-armers, India’s strong spin line-up put in an equally long shift, essaying just what makes them so effective in home conditions.
One section of the nets was occupied entirely by spinners. For almost an hour-and-a-half, the three left-armers – Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja – along with Washington Sundar, took turns to bowl several deliveries down to a rotating crop of Indian batters, each of whom had a different approach, from Dhruv Jurel’s aggression typical of a middle order batter to KL Rahul’s conventional defence. It was instructive that India’s batters are prepared to take on the spinners just as well as their tweakers are prepared to collapse opposition fleets.
Focused faces 💪
📸📸 from #TeamIndia‘s training session in New Delhi ahead of the 2⃣nd #INDvWI Test!
@IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/MEKhkTmgHv
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2025
Variety is what gives India’s spin chorus an edge, especially when conditions are not made to be overly conducive to them. Each of them can operate with different ranges of speed and turn. Jadeja has a straighter, more no-nonsense approach that allows him to exploit any areas on the pitch that offer turn; it was the same reason why he could be seen frustrated with what’s on offer on the wickets in the nets, and how he flummoxed and beat the left-hander Devdutt Padikkal at the start of the session.
Axar’s style is similar to Jadeja but a higher release point allows him more speed and keeps his line tighter; while Washington, who has a similar release point, looks a conventional off-spinner, but is often seen making late adjustments, which is how he constantly tested the right-handers by getting the ball to turn inside.
High-risk, high-reward
Kuldeep is the one with the most ability to fox. With the most weapons in his arsenal, he has a bit of a high-risk, high-reward style. He was tonked for the most number of balls but also found edges, pads, and beat the batters more often than anyone, taking genuine joy out of his bowling. “Googly nahi topspin daala hai,” he would cheekily chirp at Rahul after bamboozling him.
With India’s heavy victory last week and a hectic schedule for the next few months, there may be expectations that a few top players will be rested. But assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said at a news conference on Wednesday that they are likely to stick to the same combination; which means one of the four spinners, likely Axar, is set to miss out. Jadeja and Washington ostensibly give the team more balance and depth in batting.
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2025
“Of course everyone likes to get runs in the big series, against Australia, England, even South Africa,” Ten Doeschate added. “But it’s not like we look at the West Indies as a lesser team. We know we have a job to do this week, and there will be big pride taken in scoring big runs and winning here.”
And if Wednesday’s session was anything to go by, as they showed in the second innings in Ahmedabad, India’s tweakers are in fine form. They could hardly be higher on confidence, so if spin comes into play as it is expected to later in the Test, West Indies must beware.
