'He Was Hitting My Bat So Hard, I Had to Tell Him to Calm Down': Gill's Hilarious Take on Pant's Spirited Celebrations

It was the Gill-Pant show with the bat for India today, as both batters brought up impressive centuries of their own and made it look effortless all the way, leading India to post their menacing total of 515.

Gill, who scored a century for India in his last Test as well against England in Dharamsala earlier in March, was unable to open his account in the first innings, as he was sent back for a duck.

The 25-year-old Indian opener though came back with a vengeance in the second innings and silenced his critics, as he sliced, diced and pulled his way to a sensational century, the 6th of his Test career.

Gill wouln’t be alone in his venture though, as he would team up with the comeback man Rishabh Pant, who himself would also notch a century of his own, to add 167 runs for the fourth wicket, and help India take a dominant lead.

The swashbuckling duo were also seen enjoying their time at the crease, playing some exquisite strokes down the ground while also taking the aerial route against the spinners to hammer Bangladesh at will.

Gill also shared a hilarious anecdote about Pant’s charisma at the crease, and recalled how he had to calm down the spirited wicketkeeper-batter to salvage his own bat.

“I was telling him to not do so because I was playing with a bat that I played the England series with. So, my bat is quite old actually,” Gill exclaimed as he laughed.

“He was hitting my bat so hard I was telling him I am trying to save my bat. And if he didn’t get it right, while we were in the middle, he would say ‘No, let’s do it again.’ I had to tell him to calm down.”

Bangladesh showed some spunk in their second innings to reach 158 for four when play was called off at 4.25 pm due to bad light. They still need a whopping 357 runs for the result to be in their favour.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (51) and Shakib Al-Hasan (5) were manning the crease for the visitors, and the day could have ended on a better note for them had they been a slightly more judicious in shot selection against star off-spinner R Ashwin (3/63).

(with agency inputs)