InningsIndia 404 and 258 for 2 dec (Gill 110, Pujara 102*, Khaled 1-51) set Bangladesh 150 (Mushfiqur 28, Mehidy 25, Kuldeep 5-40, Siraj 3-20) 513 to win
Resuming the day on 133 for 8, Bangladesh could add only 17 more to their total as Kuldeep had Ebadot Hossain caught down the leg side in the fifth over of the day to complete his five-for. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the other overnight batter, tried to farm the strike even more after that but was stumped off Axar Patel soon after while going for a big hit. That gave India a lead of 254 but they decided against enforcing the follow-in.
In the second innings, Khaled Ahmed and Taijul Islam opened the bowling for Bangladesh as Ebadot Hossain didn’t step onto the field. On Thursday too, after dismissing Shreyas Iyer, Ebadot was off the field for the rest of India’s first innings. With Shakib Al Hasan also not bowling, probably because of the rib injury he sustained during the ODI series, the hosts were left with just three frontline bowlers.
KL Rahul and Gill didn’t show any hurry, accumulating only 16 runs in the first eight overs. The two added 70 for the first wicket before Khaled’s short-ball ploy accounted for Rahul. The seamer first hurried the batter and then had him pulling one to fine leg.
Khaled also hit Pujara on the body twice, but the same plan didn’t work against Gill, who took him on, pulling for a four and six. Later, as Khaled seemed to be tiring towards the end of a seven-over spell, Pujara too pulled him for four.
Against spinners, Gill used the sweep shot to good effect, picking up three boundaries. However, he had a scare on 70 when Yasir Ali pinged him on the pads. The on-field umpire ignored the vociferous appeal, and when Bangladesh opted to review it, they were told the DRS technology was down.
After tea, both batters showed even more intent. Gill moved to 99 with a reverse-swept four off Mehidy and two balls later launched him over mid-on for a one-bounce four to get to his hundred. He fell for 110 while attempting another big shot but Pujara took over after that.
Having reached his fifty off 87 balls, he took only 43 more deliveries to bring up his hundred. On the way, he skipped down the ground to spinners regularly to loft them over mid-off and mid-on, lap-swept them at times, and even brought out the reverse sweep. A misfield by mid-on took him to the three-figure mark off 130 balls, and with that, India declared their innings.
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo