Gill and Pant plunder Bangladesh in dominating morning session of play for the hosts on Day 3 of the First Test.
Gill and Pant reached their half-centuries as India advanced towards eliminating Bangladesh from the Test after a wicketless opening day in Chennai on day three.
The fact that the average seam movement decreased from 1.3 degrees on the first day to 0.4 degrees on the third demonstrated how easily India batted; in spite of Bangladesh’s strong bowling, just 13 incorrect answers could be drawn during the entire session. All they can do is hope that this level of flatness holds up until it’s their turn to pursue an inevitable mountain of runs.
Gill and Pant, who are both aggressive hitters who enjoy counterattacking, accepted that they were the only ones who could get out and prepared for heavy blows. They continued to show respect for good balls and occasionally leaped out of the crease to knock sixes. Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled from one end for virtually the entire session, but Gill struck him for three of them to achieve 27 sixes in his 26th Test; Pant reached 58 in just 34 Tests, his first in over two years.
These two started the day respecting the bowling, in contrast to Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma on the third evening, who merely tried to force themselves on the bowling. After an easy dismissal in the first innings, Pant was extra careful not to give anything away, thus it took him longer to start making big strokes.
Before noon, Gill joined in the acceleration, implying that the announcement might occur sooner rather than later. Seven minutes before the half, Pant made a drive for faster runs with a skier, but skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto stopped it. Even so, Pant raised the stakes for the race to the hundred by hitting two fours in the last over before the interval.