CHENNAI: There's been an air of inevitability about this Test match since the time Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had that partnership of 199 in the first innings. On Saturday afternoon in fading light, the duo was in ‘let's finish the Test today' mode after the young entertainers Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill had raced away to their centuries. But captain Rohit Sharma felt he needed a bit of variety and decided to introduce paceman Mohammed Siraj .
The light meter came in immediately, the light was offered, and Bangladesh lived to fight another day. Chasing 515 for victory, Bangladesh were 158-4 and not looking too comfortable against the spinners when the third day's play was called off due to bad light. Ashwin (3-63) was in his element, causing maximum damage while Jadeja was looking threatening with turn from the rough outside the left-hander's off-stump.
But they will have to come back on Sunday and finish the job as captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (51 batting) and Shakib Al Hasan (5 batting) will try to battle on. There's a bit of rain round the corner, but the excellent MA Chidambaram Stadium drainage should allow enough game time for India to wrap things up. In fact, it was the drainage which had a role in the match starting at the right time after some strong showers in the early hours of Saturday.
Under a murky sky, it was on Pant and Gill to entertain the weekend crowd and how well they did it. The lead, of course, was already over 300 and there wasn't too much pressure on the duo. The two young guns gave themselves a little bit of time to get set, apprehending a bit of moisture on the pitch.
But it didn't take them too long to find out that it might not be that threatening after all and they launched into their shots. Shubman looks beautifully balanced at the crease and when the lateral movement isn't too alarming, he looks crisp on both sides of the wicket. The drives that he plays on the up are a thing of beauty and the Bangladesh pacers who got the better of him in the first innings were soundly beaten on Saturday.
And when it comes to playing spin, he is as good as anybody in the business. His use of the feet, the way he dances down the track, makes it a treat and the weekend crowd had its share of fun as the 25-year-old raced away to his fifth Test ton. Rishabh matches Dhoni The biggest round of applause was reserved for the Delhi boy with whom Gill shared the 167-run partnership off 36.
1 overs. Everyone loves a beautiful story and there's none better than Pant's, who matched Chennai's beloved MS Dhoni's record of the highest number of centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests. This was Pant's first Test since his comeback from a life-threatening injury a couple of years ago.
And the wicketkeeper-batter hasn't put a foot wrong so far in this game. The Saturday show once again was an exhibition of his versatility as he brought his 360 degree game to the fore. The bowling was lacking the bite and Najmul dropped one sitter that he offered on 72, but that doesn't take anything away from the shots he played.
The best thing about Pant's batting is that the bowler at times feels helpless. If one ball is hit over the bowler's head, the next one can be a pick-up shot over fine-leg. The crowd got ecstatic when all those shots came off and when the century came with a punch on the off-side, Pant looked up at the sky.
The gods up there might also have been cheering for the boy who never gave up..
