Rishabh Pant, the fighter and entertainer, returned to Test cricket in both capacities for India against Bangladesh in the series opener in Chennai as he smashed his sixth century in the format while not leaving any chance to get a bit cheeky either when being behind the stumps or while batting. One of the moments caught everyone's eye on Day 3 when Rishabh Pant was setting the field for Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto.
During the morning session on the third day, Pant before the start of one of the pacers' overs, was telling one of the fielders on the off-side to shift to mid-wicket, the empty area on the leg side of the batter.
“Arey idhar aayega ek. Idhar kam fielder hai (Hey, put a fielder here. There aren't many fielders here),” Pant seemingly told Shanto, while pointing towards the leg side. "One fielder here... mid-wicket," Pant added as one extra fielder on the off-side was seen to be moving after the Indian wicketkeeper's direction to the mid-wicket region.
Watch the video here:
Interestingly, it was another Indian wicketkeeper, MS Dhoni, who was seen setting the field for Bangladesh during the 2019 World Cup match with Sabbir Rahman bowling. Pant's antics reminded everyone of what Dhoni did five years ago.
Pant smashed a quick 128-ball 109 before he was dismissed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz for the fourth time in Test cricket. Pant equalled Dhoni's record for most Test hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper in the longest format of the game (6).
After Pant, Shubman Gill also completed his century as India cruised through to 287/4 before declaring. Bangladesh will need a massive target of 515 runs to win the game, which looks like a bleak possibility, however, the pitch has become flat and it will be a tough time for the bowlers in remaining couple of overs before the tea.
