Going into the second innings of the first Test between India and Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, there was pressure on the shoulder of Shubman Gill, whose batting average of 35 wasn’t quite promising in the longest format of the game, especially featuring in an Indian side. The young batter didn’t enjoy a great time either in the first innings.
When Shubman Gill walked into the middle on the opening day of the red-ball contest, India had lost Rohit Sharma, their captain and opening batter, early in the innings, as Hasan Mahmud was breathing fire with the new ball. The Punjab-born got an unfortunate edge to his blade by trying to hit the leg-sided ball.
The situation, when he arrived in the middle during the second innings, was pretty similar, as the home side had already lost their captain again in the game. Even though they had a huge lead besides their name, the condition could have been different.
“Calm down!!”- Shubman Gill gives this message to Rishabh Pant
Soon after the arrival of the 25-year-old, India lost the services of another opening batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal, who got an outside edge to the short and wide delivery before Virat Kohli got back to the dressing room after being hit the pads.
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Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill shared a 167-run stand for the fourth wicket in the second innings of the game, but both of them batted differently. The former was in his regular aggressive version, while the focus of India’s number three was to put more attention towards the strokes with a better technique.
Gill had celebrated a couple of centuries against England at home earlier this year. The first one in Vizag was a relief, while the second one in the final game in Dharamshala was about his resilience in the game but still, that poor average was something he needed to work on.
The youngster notched up his fifth century of the format with an unbeaten 119-run knock in 176 balls with the help of ten boundaries and four sixes at a strike rate of over 65. Pant also cracked a 109-run knock at a strike rate of over 85, shouldering on 13 boundaries and four sixes in the contest.
Coming into the post-match presentation, Shubman Gill revealed that he was playing with his old bat, and every time they were celebrating after nailing a boundary or in between the overs, Pant was smashing the blade quite full power, and that scared him a little bit.
“I told Rishabh to not punch the bat because I was playing with an old bat. He was hitting my bat so hard, and I told him I was saving my bat. If he did not middle the ball while in the middle, he would say let us do it again. I told him to calm down.” The vice-captain of India’s white-ball side noted at the post-match presentation ceremony after the end of the third day’s play.
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He now has been part of 48 innings in the five-day format, having collected 1611 runs at an average of 37.47 with the help of six half-centuries and five centuries. His average of nearly 50 in the third innings of a Test match.
Rohit called his boys at 287/4 in the third innings of the game with a lead of 515 runs, as Shubman Gill left the field with a standing ovation from the crowd and the teammates in the dressing room.