IND vs BAN: Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant duet slams door shut on Bangladesh

Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant duet slams door shut on Bangladesh (BCCI Photo)

Eventually, it became a race to the hundred, between Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant. With lunch approaching on Day 3 of the first Test between India and Bangladesh, the batting pair upped the ante. India’s lead swelled and the declaration was round the corner. The push for quick runs saw a gear-shift.

Overnight rain here in Chennai put a question mark over the scheduled start on the third day. The ground-staff did good work and play started on time. Both Gill and Pant were cautious to start with. The seam movement had died down and the pitch became very good for batting. The duo eyed big knocks. They respected the bowling and cut down the chance factors. Rarely did they play a false shot. Once in a while, they showed aggression and hit sixes. Gill took three maximums off Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Pant looked determined not to fall prey to a soft dismissal. He wasn’t trying to manufacture shots. But as quick-scoring became the order of the day, the southpaw ramped seamer Hasan Mahmud over long leg for a six. As audacious as it gets.

IND vs BAN 1st Test: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep make Bangladesh dance to their tune

Pant decided to go full throttle, but a skier off Shakib Al Hasan ensued. Najmul Hossain Shanto dropped the sitter, running in from long-on. The batter was on 72 then. Fortune favoured the brave.

Pant won the race over Gill. He was quickly into the 90s, after taking a four and a six off Shakib. Soon he was on 99. Gill, at the other end, didn’t mind playing second fiddle. He had the box seat.

A couple to wide long-off against Shakib took Pant to his sixth Test hundred. He has returned to the five-day fold after a gap of 629 days. If the first innings was a wasted opportunity, the 26-year-old more than made up for it in the second. Looking at the bigger picture, the player and the Indian team will take a lot of heart from this effort. Pant is a game-changer irrespective of conditions and situations, and India need him to be at his peak in the five-Test series in Australia later this year.

IND vs BAN: Dazzling Ashwin century reminds India of his value as a batter

As for Gill, he is a better second innings player. Against England earlier this year, he had a couple of second-innings half-centuries and a century in pressure situations. Here, the pressure was on Bangladesh and Gill went about his task in a languid style. He never tried to impose himself on the opposition bowlers and yet, moved along at a decent pace – 119 not out off 176 balls. After Pant got out on 109, Gill pressed the accelerator even more. It was his fifth Test hundred.

By then, though, Bangladesh had seemingly given up. Gill and Pant had batted the tourists out of the game via a 167-run fourth wicket partnership.

In exclusive arrangement with RevSportz