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IND vs. BDESH 2024/25, IND vs. BAN 1st Test Match Report, 19 – 23 September 2024

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

Rishabh Pant made an emotional sixth Test century, Shubman Gill a calm fifth, and the Indian bowlers and fielders responded well to the challenging conditions by taking four wickets in the second innings on day three in Chennai. Bangladesh were 357 short of the 515 target they had set themselves with an aggressive declaration with two and a half days to go in the Test.

With the pitch yet to break up and the average seam movement dropping from 1.3 degrees on the first day to 0.4 degrees on the third day, these were the best batting conditions of the match. Despite India's attacking approach in preparation for the declaration, they bowled just 16 misfires in 41 overs on the third day, scoring 206 runs. The conditions remained unchanged when Bangladesh batted, but a marathon effort from R Ashwin maintained India's dominance of the match. The bowlers had three low catches of varying difficulty to thank the fielders for.

Given these conditions, Gill and Pant, both aggressive batsmen with a penchant for counter-attacking, realised that only they could take themselves out of the game and put their heads down for big shots. They continued to respect good balls and, once in, jumped out of the pitch to hit sixes. Gill hit Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who bowled 25 of India's 64 overs in the second innings, for four of them to take his tally to 28 sixes in his 26th Test. Pant took a liking to the left-arm spin of Shakib Al Hasan and hit four sixes himself, taking his tally to 59 in just 34 Tests, the seventh-highest for India. India have now hit 85 sixes in 2024, putting them just five away from 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 simply tried to impose their bowling on the second evening, these two started the day respecting the bowling and were content to defend for a while, not bothering about the edges and the close fielders. It was not until the seventh over of the day that someone tried to force the issue and Gill did so beautifully with the two sixes over wide long-on.

Pant, particularly keen not to give the ball away after an easy first-innings dismissal, took even longer before producing shots – none better than the ramp sweep of Hasan Mahmud for a six over fine leg ten minutes before lunch. Gill joined in the acceleration before lunch, suggesting the decision could be sooner rather than later. With this push for quicker runs came a skid from Pant seven minutes before the break, but captain Najmul Hossain Shanto knocked him down. Pant hit two more fours in the last over before the break to throw down the gauntlet in the race to a hundred.

After lunch, Pant took his trademark flick behind square from both the quicks and spinners, reaching his hundred in just 118 balls. Gill took a more sedate approach, in 161 balls, and KL Rahul played a couple of top-notch inside-out drives before the declaration gave Bangladesh an hour to bat before tea.

Zakir Hasan came out full of determination, driving both on the front and back foot and sending Mohammed Siraj off for six. With the ball not doing much, he and Shadman Islam stayed in search of runs and punished every error down the length.

However, when Ashwin came on the field, he started to play mischief, hitting the back of the bat here and the inside edge there. After tea, he and Jasprit Bumrah kept things tight for three overs. In the fourth, Zakar played an ambitious drive to a ball that was nowhere near full enough and Jaiswal ended his innings with a sensational catch deep to his left and behind him in the gully.

The conditions meant that Ashwin had to work hard for his wickets. He even conceded four sixes; the most he has ever conceded in an innings is five. However, he continued to battle through, often slowing his pace to get support from the surface. His first wicket did not come as he had hoped, as Shadman backed up and tried to play a length ball behind square. It was not short enough, and he needed his leading edge for a low catch to Gill at short midwicket.

Ashwin then delivered a great ball to get rid of Mominul Haque, who never coped well. The drift got him playing the line and the turn was just enough to miss the edge but not the off stump. Mushfiqur Rahim was like a cat on a struck tin roof, sweeping Ashwin away for a six before hitting one deep to Rahul at mid-on. Shakib Al Hasan was even less composed but was saved by bad light that ended the game early. Amidst all this, captain Najmul batted calmly but quickly, finishing the day with 51 off 60.

Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo

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