bangladesh face uphill battle after india declare with 515 run target

India reached a strong position on Saturday on the third day of the first cricket test against Bangladesh. Pant scored 109 and Shubman Gill scored an unbeaten 119 for India. Both of them shared a 167-run partnership for the fourth wicket, due to which India declared the innings at 287 for four wickets, playing ahead of yesterday’s score of 81 runs for three wickets.

India had a total lead of 514 runs, which gave Bangladesh a tough target of 515 runs. Earlier, Bangladesh team was all out for 149 runs in the second innings. Bangladesh had scored 158 runs for four wickets in the second innings. When the game had to be stopped at 4:25 pm due to poor light.

Bangladesh still needs to score 357 runs to avoid defeat and there are two full days of play left. Captain Nazmul Hussain Shanto (51) and Shakib Al Hasan (5) are at the crease. Bangladeshi batsmen could have been in a better position if they had played carefully against star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin took three wickets for 63 runs.

The third day’s play was in the name of Gill and Pant. Both the young batsmen lived up to the test of traditional cricket while battling challenges at a personal level. Pant, who returned to Test cricket after a car accident in December 2022, completed his sixth Test century in just 124 balls. He also equaled his colleague Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s record for most Test centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper. Pant scored 109 runs which included 13 fours and four sixes. At the same time, Gill hit ten fours and four sixes in his 176-ball innings, scoring his fifth Test century.