Indian batters Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pantare running between the wicket at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. Photo: Agency
Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant started Day 3 with a positive approach and played their shots freely on the loose deliveries. Both batters comfortably hit their half-centuries and now marching towards a triple-figure score. India stretched their lead to 432 runs at Lunch as Shubman Gill (86*) and Rishabh Pant (82*) stamped their authority over the Bangladesh bowlers who looked clueless to break their partnership of 138 runs.
The pitch seems to be easing up somewhat and not offering too much for the spinners just yet, India will want the likes of Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul to take advantage of the good third day conditions. The team saw out the new ball without too much damage as well.
With India not choosing to send out a nightwatchman after Virat Kohli’s wicket, and allowing Pant to score a couple of boundaries right before stumps, the intent to score runs quickly was made clear as well. Shubman Gill batted well for 33*(64), and will be eyeing a big score on the third day.
For Bangladesh, with the match quickly slipping out of hand, the best hope will be to ensure that the Indian batters can’t play themselves into form ahead of the second Test in Kanpur. The bowlers and captain will take the positives from dismissing Rohit Sharma and Kohli cheaply in both innings, but will also be aware of the threat the Indian batting possesses elsewhere.
They might hope that the pitch sees some spin for the older ball, putting a cap on the scoring rate and allowing Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan to find a good rhythm and send India’s batting back sooner than the hosts would like. For the Tigers, figuring out how to put together partnerships with the bat is the biggest concern.
A total of 17 wickets fell on day two, which stands as a record for the number of wickets in a single day’s play at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. India have found themselves in a very strong position in the match, and might look to try and bat through to tea and give their pace bowlers a crack late in the day with plenty of runs in the tank.
Earlier on day two, India were only able to add on 37 runs to their overnight total following Bangladesh’s opening spell with the second new ball. Ravindra Jadeja fell short of a century as he feathered an edge off Taskin Ahmed. The wicket brought an end to his partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin, leaving them one short of reaching the 200-run mark.
Akash Deep came in and swung his bat around, but wasn’t able to do so much damage as he holed out against Taskin. Ashwin would try the same, and would have a similar result as he toe-ended one straight into the air for a simple catch.
Mahmud Hasan completed formalities by having Jasprit Bumrah caught at third slip, becoming the first Bangladesh player to take a five-fer on Indian soil in the process. India would have been very happy with 376 runs which had clearly shown demons with the new ball, and were able to make an instant impact with their own opening burst.
Jasprit Bumrah struck in the very first over, as Shadman Islam shouldered arms and saw his off-stump knocked back. Akash Deep continued his strong form from the Duleep Trophy, as he took two wickets in two balls by sneaking through Zakir Hasan’s defence before repeating the trick against Mominul Haque the very next delivery.
Mohammed Siraj was reintroduced and made an impact as he found the edge of Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mushfiqur Rahim was dismissed by a sharp catch by KL Rahul off Bumrah’s bowling.
Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan made an attempt at reconstructing with a 51-run partnership, but a pair of cheap wickets were handed as Das tried to sweep Jadeja and was snapped up by a good catch by sub fielder Dhruv Jurel in the deep. Shakib departed soon after as an under-edge from a reverse sweep bounced off his foot and was pouched by Rishabh Pant.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz added some important runs with the tail, but it didn’t make too much of a scratch as Bumrah and Siraj wrapped up proceedings and left Bangladesh stranded on 149 all out. Rohit Sharma decided against enforcing the follow-on, and the openers were sent out to bat in the last session.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed early by an excellent Taskin Ahmed delivery, and Yashasvi Jaiswal looked to attack but wasn’t able to do so for long as he was caught behind off Nahid Rana. Shubman Gill bounced back from his first-innings duck with a fluent innings including some trademark crisp shots off the back foot. Rishabh Pant attacked Shakib Al Hasan for a late set of boundaries late in the day, sending India into stumps at 81-3 with a 308 run lead.
