In one such incident shared by Shubman Gill after the close of play on Saturday, whenever either of them hit a boundary, Pant would hit Gill’s bat hard with his.
While that’s normal for a batsman to do as a way of congratulating his partner in the middle, Gill had his reasons to ask Pant to stop doing it.
“I was telling him not to because I was playing with a bat that I played the England series with, so my bat is quite old actually,” said Gill at the press conference after play ended.
But Pant, who is a character that keeps his teammates entertained, didn’t listen.
“He was hitting my bat so hard, I was telling him that I am trying to save my bat. But if he didn’t middle it (hit well), he would say ‘no, let’s do it again’. Bro, calm down!” a smiling Gill said, much to the delight of the reporters in the room.
The duo added 167 runs for the third wicket, with Pant making 109 on his return to Test cricket since his car accident in December 2020. Gill was 119 not out when captain Rohit Sharma decided to declare India’s second innings at 287 for 4, giving them a massive overall lead of 514.
Facing a daunting target in the fourth innings, Bangladesh, who made 149 in their first innings in response to India’s 376, were 158 for 4 at stumps on the third day.
Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who got India out of jail in the first innings with a century, did the bulk of the damage by taking three wickets.
Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto led the fight for the visitors with an unbeaten 51, with Shakib Al Hasan (5*) partnering him at close of play.