Pant, Gill put India in command
Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill cleansed months of hurt, anxiety and disappointments of varying nature with emotional hundreds on the third day to place India in a prime position to win the first Test against Bangladesh here Saturday.
Gill (119 not out) and Pant (109 led the hosts’ run glut with an alliance of 167 for the fourth wicket that helped India, overnight 81/3, declare their second innings at 287 for 4 for an overall lead of 514.
Bangladesh showed some spunk in their second innings to reach 158 for four when play was called off at 4.25 pm due to bad light. They still need a whopping 357 runs for the result to be in their favour.
Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (51) and Shakib Al-Hasan (5) were manning the crease for the visitors, and the day could have ended on a better note for them have they been a slightly more judicious in shot selection against star off-spinner R Ashwin (3/63).
But let’s forget the match situation and those dreary numbers for a while to cast a deeper look into the story of the day.
The hundreds by Pant and Gill stood as a testimony of these two fine young men’s will to rise above towering personal obstacles that would have strangled the ordinary.
Pant stood near the middle of the pitch with closed eyes, an upward tilted head and a raised bat – offering a silent prayer, perhaps, to the Lord above for returning life and cricket to him.
Gill watched the whole scene from a fair distance, as he did not want to invade into an intensely private moment of his partner.
Soon, the two brave-hearts melted into a warm embrace as Chepauk erupted.
Perhaps, the moment stood also as a tribute to Pant equalling Chennai’s very own ‘Thala’ MS Dhoni’s record for the most Test hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman – six.
Compared to Pant’s, the struggles of Gill have been less pronounced as they were more mental than physical in nature, stemming primarily from the lack of confidence in himself in the traditional format. However, since making that hundred against England at Visakhapatnam earlier this year, Gill seemed to have turned a corner and he further validated that journey upwards with his fifth Test hundred, fetched through a single off Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
But while Gill, beginning from overnight 33, and Pant, starting from 12, were in the office, all these feelings were hidden as it was time to enjoy the sight of them taking down Bangladesh bowlers in their contrasting methods.
The left-hander started rather sedately, looking to get his eye in before opening up.
The breakaway moment came when Pant pulled off-spinner Miraz for a four around the first drinks break of the day. Since that point, Pant’s dismantling of Miraz became a feature of the innings as he brought up his fifty off 88 balls. Once the fifty was achieved, the 26-year-old unfurled some of those typical Pant shots.
Sachin, Pathan heap praises
New delhi: Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday heaped praise on Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill’s performance against Bangladesh in the first Test match in Chennai. Taking to his official X handle, Tendulkar said that he loved watching Gill score his century. The 51-year-old also praised Pant for smashing his century and said that the India wicketkeeper-batter looked “sharp as ever”. “Loved watching @ShubmanGill glide his way to a hundred. And @RishabhPant17, despite being away from the longer format for quite some time, looks as sharp as ever. Great to see both of them in such fine rhythm,” Tendulkar wrote on X. Former cricketers Irfan Pathan and Michael Vaughan lavished praise on Rishabh Pant for his splendid outing in the second inning of the opening Test against Bangladesh.
Scoreboard
India 1st Innings 376
Bangladesh 1st Innings 149
India 2nd Innings
Y Jaiswal c Das b Rana 10
R Sharma c Hasan b Ahmed 5
S Gill not out 119
V Kohli lbw b Miraz 17
R Pant c & b Miraz 109
KL Rahul not out 22
Extras: (lb 4, w 1) 5
Total: (4 wickets, 64 overs) 287
FOW: 1-15, 2-28, 3-67, 4-234
Bowling O M R W
Taskin Ahmed 7 1 22 1
Hasan Mahmud 11 1 43 0
Nahid Rana 6 0 21 1
Shakib Al Hasan 13 0 79 0
Mominul Haque 2 0 15 0
Mehidy Hasan Miraz 25 3 103 2
Bangladesh 2nd Innings
S Islam c Gill b Ashwin 35
Z Hasan c Jaiswal b Bumrah 33
NH Shanto not out 51
M Haque b Ashwin 13
M Rahim c Rahul b Ashwin 13
S Al Hasan not out 5
Extras: (lb 4, b-4) 8
Total: (4 wickets, 37.2 overs) 158
FOW: 1-62, 2-86, 3-124, 4-146
Bowling O M R W
Jasprit Bumrah 7 2 18 1
Mohammed Siraj 3.2 1 20 0
Akash Deep 6 0 20 0
Ravichandran Ashwin 15 3 63 3
Ravindra Jadeja 6 0 29 0
