Centuries by Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant help hosts tighten their grip on the match with an improbable 515-run target for Bangladesh; visitors post 158-4 before bad light stops play on Day Three
India’s Rishabh Pant (left) and Shubman Gill during their 167-run stand on Saturday. Pic/PTI
First through Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, and then through ace off-spinner R Ashwin who was backed up by electric catching, India tightened the screws at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday. Their inexorable march towards a 41st victory at home since the start of 2013 was only halted by bad light on Day Three of the first Test against Bangladesh, which the visitors ended on 158-4 after being set an improbable 515 for the unlikeliest of victories.
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India bossed most of the day’s play, though Bangladesh gave a far better account of themselves in the first innings on a surface that has lost much of its zip and has unravelled into a good one for batting, even though variable bounce is beginning to make its presence felt.
Memorable comeback for Pant
Already 308 runs to the good when they started the third day on 81-3, India made merry through Gill and the irrepressible Pant, who made his Test comeback after nearly 21 months a memorable one for all the right reasons. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who had slammed an excellent unbeaten half-century when stumps were drawn at 4:25 pm, kept off-spinner Mehidy Hassan Miraz going from one end while rotating his quicks from the other, but neither the faster bowlers nor Miraz made any impression on India’s overnight pair.
After an early period of consolidation, the tall, rangy right-handed Gill and the shorter, more powerful left-handed Pant treated a 17,000-strong crowd to a sparkling exhibition of batsmanship. Gill was correctly orthodox, as is his wont, his fifth Test innings — and his third in his last eight knocks — punctuated by strong back foot stroke-making square on the off-side though exquisite punches and through mid-wicket with short-arm jab-pulls.
Pant can’t be accused of being conventional. He was characteristically cheeky, particularly favouring the scoop-shovel on one knee against pace and spin alike as he bore down on his sixth Test ton. He should have been dismissed for 72, but Shanto put down a skier at mid-wicket off the otherwise profligate Shakib Al Hasan, a reprieve that he celebrated by keeping his tryst with the three-figure knock after leaving Gill way behind.
India declare on 287
A smart catch on his followthrough by Miraz saw the back of Pant after a stand of 167 for the fourth wicket, Gill having KL Rahul for company when he reached his hundred.
Skipper Rohit Sharma called his men in at 1 pm on the dot with India’s total, 287, scored at well in excess of four an over.
Perhaps freed up by the enormity of the target, Bangladesh began brightly through Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam, reaching 62 in quick time when Yashasvi Jaiswal pulled off a screamer to his left at gully to evict the former.
The Bangladesh batters continued to play their shots with Shanto taking a special liking to Ashwin, but the off-spinner plugged away at the other end and was well supported by Gill and Rahul, who took some smart catches to push Bangladesh to the brink.
Brief scores
India 376 & 287-4d (S Gill 119*, R Pant 109; M Hasan Miraz 2-103) v Bangladesh 149 & 158-4 (N Shanto 51*, S Islam 35, Z Hasan 33; R Ashwin 3-63)
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