'I told him I was trying to save my bat…': Gill on the hilarious incident during partnership with Pant

India managed to reach a massive target of 515 runs in the first Test in Chennai, thanks to century runs from Gill and Rishabh Pant. The two future Indian batting stars took apart the Bangladesh bowling line-up with some ruthless knocks and continued their good form in the long format.

At the end-of-day press conference, Gill recalled that during the celebrations to mark their milestone, Pant had tried to touch his bat with Gill's, but the right-hander had asked Pant not to do so as he was “trying to protect the bat” he had been using since the series against England earlier this year.

“I told him not to. Because I'm playing with a bat that I used in the England series, so my bat is actually quite old, and he was hitting my bat so hard that I told him, 'I'm trying to save my bat.' So when he was in the middle of it, he said, let's do it again. Brother, calm down,” Pant said.

When it came to play, Bangladesh won the coin toss and decided to field first.

The top order collapsed and India were left at 34/3. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant put on a 62-run partnership for the fourth wicket to bring India into the game. After India were reduced to 144/6, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja put on a 199-run partnership to help India reach 376 in 91.2 overs.

Hasan Mahmud was the best bowler for Bangladesh. He destroyed the Indian top order, disabling captain Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. Taskin Ahmed also took three wickets for 55 runs.

In their first innings, Bangladesh lost wickets regularly. Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz offered Bangladesh brief resistance, but Bumrah and Akash Deep broke Bangladesh's batting power. Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each. Bangladesh were bowled out for 149 runs in their first innings and trailed by 227 runs.

In the second innings, India again quickly lost their top order and were struggling at 67/3. But centuries from Gill and Rishabh Pant helped them reach 287/4 before the innings was over. Bangladesh had a huge win rate of 515.

Bangladesh started the chase well, with openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam putting on a 62-run opening stand. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto held the innings together, while Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah were among the wickets. At the end of the third day, Bangladesh were 158/4, with captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan unbeaten.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications.