Rishabh Pant brought up an emotional sixth Test century, Shubman Gill  a serene fifth, and the Indian bowlers and fielders responded well to demanding conditions by taking four second-innings wicket on day three in Chennai. Bangladesh were 357 adrift of the 515 target set them by an aggressive declaration with two-and-a-half days left in the Test.

With the pitch not yet breaking up and the average seam movement dying down from 1.3 degrees on day one to 0.4 degrees on day three, these were the best batting conditions of the match. Despite India’s attacking approach to set up the declaration, they only played 16 false shots in 41 overs on day three, while scoring 206 runs. The conditions remained flat when Bangladesh batted, but a marathon spell from Ravichandran Ashwin  maintained India’s ascendency in the match. The bowlers had the fielders to thank for three low catches of varying difficulty.

Given the conditions, Gill and Pant, both aggressive batters given to counterattacking, acknowledged that only they could get themselves out, and put their heads down for big knocks. They kept respecting good balls, and once in they jumped out of the crease to hit sixes. Gill hit Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who bowled 25 out of India’s 64 second-innings overs, for four of them to reach 28 sixes in his 26th Test. Pant fancied the left-arm spin of Shakib Al Hasan and hit four sixes of his own to go up to 59, the seventh-highest for India, in just 34 Tests. India have now hit 85 sixes in 2024, which leaves them only five short of breaking the record for most sixes by a team in a calendar year.

What the duo did outside the sixes was more impressive. Unlike Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma, who on the second evening just tried to impose themselves on the bowling, these two began the day respecting the bowling and they were content to defend for a while without worrying about edges and close-in fielders. Only in the seventh over of the day did someone try to force the issue, and Gill did that beautifully with the two sixes over wide long-on.

Pant, extra conscious to not give it away after a soft dismissal in the first innings, took even more time before he went manufacturing shots – none better than the ramp-sweep off Hasan Mahmud for a six over fine leg ten minutes before lunch. Gill joined in the acceleration before lunch, suggesting the declaration might come sooner rather than later. With that push for quicker runs came a skier from Pant seven minutes before the break, but captain Najmul Hossain Shanto  put it down. Pant still hit two fours in the final over before the break, throwing down the gauntlet for the race to the hundred.

Post lunch, Pant brought out his trademark flick behind square both off the quicks and the spinners to get to his hundred in just 118 balls. Gill went there more calmly, in 161 balls, and KL Rahul played a few classy inside-out drives before the declaration left Bangladesh an hour to bat till tea.

Zakir Hasan came out full of intent, driving both off the front and the back foot and also dismissing Mohammed Siraj for a flicked six. With the ball not doing much, he and Shadman Islam stayed on the lookout for runs, punishing every error in length.

Once Ashwin came on, though, he started to create some mischief, hitting the sticker of the bat here, taking the inside edge there. Post tea, he and Jasprit Bumrah created three tight overs. In the fourth, Zakar played an ambitious drive to a ball not nearly full enough, and Jaiswal ended his innings with a sensational catch low to his left and behind him at gully.

The conditions made Ashwin work hard for his wickets. He was even taken for four sixes; the most he has ever conceded in an innings is five. He kept plugging away, though, often slowing his pace down to draw assistance from the surface. His first wicket didn’t come as he would have envisaged as Shadman went back looking to play a length ball behind square. It wasn’t short enough, and it took his leading edge for a low catch for Gill at short midwicket.

Ashwin then produced a beauty to get rid of Mominul Haque, who never looked at home. The drift made him play the line, and the turn was just enough to miss the edge but not the off stump. Mushfiqur Rahim was a cat on a hit tin roof, slog-sweeping Ashwin for a six before hitting one low to Rahul at mid-on. Shakib Al Hasan was even less settled, but was rescued by bad light that ended the play early. Amid all this, captain Najmul batted calmly yet quickly to end the day batting on 51 off 60.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 149 and 158 for 4 (Shanto 51*, Ashwin 3-63) need 357 runs to beat India 376 and 287 for 4 dec. (Gill 119*, Pant 109)

(Cricinfo)