Ravindra Jadeja finally gave India the long-awaited breakthrough with the dismissal of West Indian opener John Campbell; However, what shocked the Indian players was that referee Paul Reiffel paused for too long before almost being forced to raise his fingers due to the Indian players’ desperate appeal.
Although Indians have dominated West Indies throughout the series, this was the first time that the West Indian batting pair seemed to have the upper hand over the Indian bowlers.
After being followed up by the Indians, Windies batters John Campbell and Shai Hope formed a huge partnership to lead the Windies to a respectable total on Day 3, and remained the same for almost an hour of the morning session on Day 4.
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Umpire Paul Reiffel leaves the Indian players bewildered over the delay in declaring John Campbell
After the massive partnership of over 150 runs between the two West Indian batters and John Campbell reaching his maiden Test century in Delhi, veteran spinner Ravindra Jadeja finally drew first blood of the morning for India.
The spinner, who started proceedings along with Jasprit Bumrah, bowled a flat-armed ball to Campbell who pitched onto middle stump and hit the batsman’s front pads perpendicular to the wickets as he attempted a reverse sweep. After being saved from Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling by DRS earlier, nothing could change his fate this time.
The main man departed, but before that, in a bizarre performance, referee Paul Reiffel pondered for ages a dismissal that seemed absolutely straight. He was almost forced out by Jadeja and the Indian players with a desperate appeal that prompted him to raise his fingers.
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— crictalk (@crictalk7) October 13, 2025
John Campbell and Shai Hope formed a partnership of more than 150 people, ending a 14-year exile
West Indian batsmen clearly haven’t had the best records in red-ball cricket over the last decade. They have further failed when it came to playing in the subcontinent conditions, and the statistics reveal it all.
Even a decade ago, when the West Indies side looked enriched under the captaincy of current coach Darren Sammy, they had batters like Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle.
The 150-plus partnerships between Shai Hope and John Campbell in this match marked the first such partnership between a West Indian batting pair in India since 2011. The previous such partnership dates back 14 years to 2011, when Darren Bravo and Kieran Powell did the same at Wankhede.
John Campbell joined a list of former West Indian greats who had scored their maiden Test century in Delhi
John Campbell could have celebrated his century with the utmost glory and pride; however, it exposed the poor form of the West Indies over the past twenty years. However, John Campbell took 48 innings, the second most by an opener in Test cricket, to reach his first Test hundred; it came in to break several unwanted records.
Campbell is the first West Indian opener to score a century since March 2023, the first opener to score a century against India since Daren Ganga in 2006 and the first Windies opener since Wavell Hinds to score a century on Indian soil.
He is also the 17th batsman to reach his maiden Test hundred in Delhi, as he joined a list that includes legends like Kapil Dev and West Indian legend Sir Vivian Richards. He is the seventh West Indian batsman to score his maiden Test century in Delhi.
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