IND vs BAN 1st Test Highlights Day 3: Bangladesh needs 472 to beat India after Pujara, Gill hit hundreds

India doing everything right today. Its bowlers did not let the Bangladesh tail wag for long and secured a massive lead. And then Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara capitalised on a deteriorated Bangladesh attack to crack their respective hundreds - Gill’s maiden in Tests and Pujara’s first in more than three years! India has set Bangladesh a target of 513. The host side reached 42/0 in 12 overs at stumps, but with two days of cricket still left, they have a uphill task at hand.

Back with all the action from Day 4 tomorrow. Until then, adios!

Axar Patel comes in place of Siraj. So spin from both ends. Shanto gets a couple off the last ball. Tickled to the fine leg fence and could have been a four but for an excellent dive from Umesh Yadav.

Ashwin replaces Umesh with Zakir on strike. Two slips, silly point and short leg. Ashwin errs in line, bowls one on the leg stump and Zakir sweeps. Siraj at short fine leg makes a mess of it and the ball races away to the fence. Four from Ashwin’s first over. Eight overs left in the day.

Umesh Yadav steams in from the other end. Three slips in place for debutant Zakir. He starts with a maiden.

Twelve overs left in the day. Out comes the Bangladesh openers Najmul Shanto and Zakir Hasan. Shanto will be on strike. He was out caught behind off the first ball of Bangladesh’s first innings. Siraj has the new ball. Three slips in place for Shanto.

Shanto is off the pair with a couple; a nice backfoot punch. Two from the over

There it is. Pujara gets to his first Test hundred in 1443 days with a boundary off Taijul! His first Test 100 in 52 innings. India declare immediately after. Pujara is 102 not out off 130 balls - fastest Test hundred he has ever scored! Kohli remains unbeaten on 19 off 29. India declare on 258 for 2 and set Bangladesh a gargantuan target of 513! We will be back with Bangladesh’s chase shortly.

A declaration is imminent. Rahul was waiting in the gallery. Pujara has speeded up his innings with a flurry of boundaries, stepping out regularly to the spinners. India waiting to see if Pujara can get to his hundred. If he does it will be his first Test ton since January 2019.

Cheteshwar Pujara gets to his second fifty of the match with a four. He skips down the pitch and lofts Mehidy Hasan Miraz over mid-off for four. A 50 off 87 balls. There are more signs that Pujara is now changing gears as he comes down the track again, this time against Taijul, and launches one over mid-on for four.

Gill perishes after reaching his 100. He was trying to switch gears. He launched Mehidy over long-on for another six before holing out one ball later, trying to go for another maximum. Terrific innings. Gill goes for 152-ball 110. He struck 10 fours and three sixes. Virat Kohli is in next.

Shubman Gill gets to his hundred at last! Off just 147 balls. Gill’s first Test hundred comes with a boundary off Mehidy’s bowling. Ninth FC hundred for Gill. He skips down the pitch to loft this delivery on middle and off, and bows down to the dressing room in celebration.

Shubman Gill nears his first Test hundred. He moves to 88 with a six off Litton Das. He charged down and slammed it over the cow corner for a maximum. Bangladesh fielders look resigned to their fate.

Gill and Pujara are set to resume. Pujara will take strike. He is on 33. Litton Das has the ball in his hand. Good first over from Das. Just two singles from it. Pujara has been very keen on rotating strike of late.

Another session belongs to India. 24 overs bowled in that session, 104 runs scored for the loss of just one wicket. India going at 4.33 runs/over in that session.

Pujara and Gill have scored at a faster clip since lunch. Gill is looking good for a maiden Test hundred. Pujara, at the other end, endured a short but sustained barrage of short balls from Khaled, but he, too, has played his shots in the last hour. The two have added 70 for the second wicket. Save the odd outside edge and play-and-miss, Bangladesh bowlers looking toothless for now.

Back in 20.

Loud appeal for lbw against Gill off Yasir Ali’s first ball. Not given. Bangladesh choose to review. However, there’s no DRS available at the moment due to a technical glitch. So on-field decision stays!

Nice little passage of play between Pujara and Khaled. Last year, Pujara copped nine blows to his body on day five of the Brisbane Test - almost all from balls clocked at 140 kmph-plus. But he didn’t budge and helped set the platform for a memorable series win Down Under. Cut to Chattogram almost two years later, on a different pitch and against a different attack, Pujara’s technique against the short ball is put to test by Khaled Ahmed, who is bowling around the wicket with leg gully and short leg lurking. Pujara has been letting short balls outside leg go, but Khaled takes pace off one bouncer, and Pujara swivels to pull it between leg gully and short leg for four.

Pujara at the other end might just start playing a bit more freely now as India’s lead crosses the 350-mark. Mehidy Hasan Miraz dropped one short on middle stump and Pujara made room to cut it past point off the back foot for four. He followed it up with another cut to deep backward point for 3. Mehidy bowling short on both occasions.

Meanwhile, a word of appreciation for Khaled Ahmed. He has bowled his heart out on this pitch. His team is hamstrung by lack of fit personnel, but that has not deterred Khaled. The last hour, he has used the short-ball ploy against India. It fetched him the wicket of KL. He continues to test Pujara and Gill with the bouncers. Gill absolutely clobbered one over deep backward square leg for six, while Pujara brought back memories of Brisbane as he wore a couple of Khaled short balls on his body. Khaled has bowled from around the wicket to both batters.

Fifty up for Shubman Gill. This should give him some confidence. Remember, he is opening the batting because Rohit is unavailable for this Test. Gill must make the most of whatever opportunities come his way. This is a start. He took his time early on but has been proactive since the start of the second session. He gets to his 5th Test fifty, off 84 balls. Gill celebrates with a well-executed sweep off Mehidy for four in the same over. India 83/1 in 26 overs, lead by 337. DRINKS!

There’s a loud appeal for lbw against Gill off Mehidy’s bowling. Not given. Bangladesh review. The ball turned and hit Gill on the pad. Gill did not get to the pitch of the ball. However, replays confirm the ball was missing the leg stump. Gill survives and Bangladesh lose a review.

Khaled had been targetting KL with the short ball, and the ploy worked. He bowled a short ball from around the wicket, and KL attacked it with a pull shot. However, he hit it straight to Taijul at fine leg. Another start KL fails to convert. Pujara is in at 3.

“The last time India batted in a second innings of a Test in India (Bengaluru against Sri Lanka in March), Shreyas Iyer said coach Dravid had asked each batter to play a certain minimum number of deliveries. Wondering what the instructions are now apart from putting the game to bed -- get used to the spin ahead of Dhaka? Look for a confidence building effort from the top-order?”

After a quiet phase, Gill upping the ante in the 19th over with two back-toback boundaries off Khaled. The first one’s an easy flick off the pads to the fine leg fence. That’s followed by a trademark half-cut for four more. India’s run-rate goes over 3.

Welcome back to the post-lunch session. Gill and Rahul will resume. Taijul starts the proceedings. Just two from the first over after the break. Khaled wil operate from the other end.

That’s lunch on day 3. India secured a 254-run lead thanks to Kuldeep Yadav, who bowled beautifully for his third five-for in Test cricket. Mohammed Siraj was equally effective, picking up three.

Mehidy alone offered real resistance and defied the attack for the first hour before being stumped when he was beaten in the air by Axar. India chose not to enforce the follow-on, and the openers Gill and Rahul have since taken the lead close to 300. Bangladesh has been further crippled by the absence of pacer Ebadot Hossain, who is off the field with a back injury. Shakib himself hasn’t bowled much in this match.

Will be interesting to see how he marshals his options after the break with a bowler short. Khaled Ahmed bowled six overs upfront before being replaced by Mehidy. Back in 40.

Rahul and Gill seem to be in no hurry. Bangladesh has a seamer and a left-arm spinner bowling in tandem. The odd ball has been keeping low, and there’s turn but no demons in the pitch. Both openers would want to get some runs under the belt before the home Tests against Australia.

Gill has been given out lbw off the first ball of Taijul’s second over. He reviews. Ball tracking confirms it was going down leg. Gill survives and India keep their review. Tidy start from the left-arm spinner. Just 1 leg bye from the over.

Just a heads up: Ebadot Hossain is off the field with a possible back injury (according to the TV commentators). Shakib has just one seam bowling option for the time being.

Spin from the other end. Taijul Islam in action. Gill on strike with a solitary slip in place. After five dot balls, Gill gives Taijul the charge and lofts him down the ground. Not much timing behind the stroke and the slow outfield means Gill gets two off the final ball.

Out come the Indian openers again. KL Rahul and Shubman Gill are at the crease. Rahul will take strike. Khaled has the new ball. Slip and leg slip for KL. Khaled attacking the stumps straightaway, no freebies outside off. There’s a hint of swing for Khaled, who gets two slips and a gully for the last two balls. But Khaled errs in length on the final ball, overpitches outside off and KL drives it handsomely for four.

Our man on the ground, N Sudarshan: “Pretty quick for India in the morning. But again, lack of application by the Bangladesh batter in Mehidy. Having been in good form and done the hard work, shouldn’t have displayed that moment of blood rush. Rahul sprints to the dressing room, indicating that India will bat again.”

Mehidy gives Axar the charge, beaten and stumped easily by Pant. Mehidy goes for 25 off 82. Bangladesh bowled out for 150 with Kuldeep grabbing his third five-for in Tests. Kuldeep’s figures in this innings: 5 for 40. India does not enforce the follow-on. KL Rahul’s men will bat again. Back with India’s second innings shortly.

Axar Patel into the attack. Khaled on strike. Two slips, short leg and silly point for the last man. There’s a lbw appeal against Khaled off the second ball. Not given. KL reviews. Impact and wickets umpire’s call. Khaled survives and India keep their review. Khaled survives five balls before being adjudged lbw off the last ball. Khaled reviews. UltraEdge confirms Khaled got an inside edge. He survives. Bangladesh trail by 255 runs.

Meanwhile, Mehidy has been impressive. With Ebadot, Mehidy was not only controlling the strike but also playing some fantastic shots. It’s been a good exhibition of batting with the tail, of farming the strike. Mehidy had skipped out of the crease and scythed Kuldeep through covers for four. He followed it up with a nice-looking drive for just a single when two was available - but it was off the fifth ball of Siraj’s over and Mehidy wanted strike against Kuldeep. Calculative and effective but he is running out of partners

Kuldeep gets a five-for as Ebadot Hossain is caught behind! Bangladesh still trail by 260 runs. They have one more wicket left. It was length ball that turned past Ebadot, who got a tickle trying to flick it. The Mehidy-Ebadot stand was worth 42. Khaled is the last man in.

Siraj from the other end. Two slips for Ebadot, who is greeted by Siraj with a yorker. Ebadot digs it out. Streaky boundary off the fourth ball. Siraj bowls a full ball outside off and Ebadot, who is hanging back in the crease, pushes at it and gets an outside edge that races away to the third-man fence. Four from the over.

We are all set for action to resume on Day 3. Ebadot Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz march out to the middle. Mehidy will be on strike. Spin to start things off. Kuldeep has the ball. He is one wicket away from a five-for. Slip, leg-slip and short leg in place for Mehidy. Kuldeep starts with a maiden.

In a quick recap of Day 2’s action, it was the brilliance of Kuldeep, Siraj, Ashwin and a lack of discipline on the part of the Bangladesh batters that helped India take control, as N. Sudarshan’s ground report states.

Here’s Shreyas Iyer: “Fortunate to be starting on a good note. When I leave the field, I shouldn’t have any regrets. I just stay in the present, and do not think of what the bowler is going to bowl... I just analyse the situation. I felt I could have got the hundred on the first day itself.”

Will India enforce the follow on or do Rahul Dravid and skipper KL Rahul want to give the bowlers some rest and the batters game time in the middle? How much more can Bangladesh’s last two wickets add? Kuldeep was the pick of the spinners yesterday, finishing with 4 for 33. Bangladesh trail by 271 runs.

India 11: Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Bangladesh 11: Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain