Chattogram: Talented opener Shubman Gill closed in on his maiden Test century as India consolidated their lead on the third day, taking a firm grip over the opening Test against Bangladesh here Friday.
Gill, who survived two on-field LBW decisions, took his chances and displayed his array of shots to help India reach 140 for 1 at tea.
Gill was unbeaten on 80 while Cheteshwar Pujara was batting on 33 as the duo shared an unfinished 70-run stand for the second wicket.
Skipper KL Rahul was the only wicket to fall in the post lunch session.
Gill went for his shots. He played every shot in his book — be it cut, slog sweep, pull or flick to pick up boundaries.
Rahul, on the other hand, continued with his cautious approach.
The solid-looking 64-run opening stand was finally broken by Khaleed Ahmed as Rahul pulled a short delivery only to find Taijul Islam at fine leg boundary.
Rahul scored 23 off 62 balls with the help of three boundaries.
The wicket hardly deterred Gill from continuing his attacking game in the post-lunch session as he often danced down the wicket to off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraj to find the boundaries.
Gill brought up his fifty in the 26th over with a single off Miraj.
In the next over, Gill clobbered a Khaleed short delivery over the square-leg boundary to bring up India’s first six of the innings.
While Gill went for his shots, Pujara on the other hand was rock solid and went about his business in quiet fashion.
Pujara too preferred to come down the track against the spinners.
Earlier, both Rahul and Gill adopted a cautious approach as India scored 36 for no loss at lunch. This was after Kuldeep Yadav’s third five-wicket haul helped them dismiss Bangladesh for a paltry 150.
Playing his first Test match in 22 months, Kuldeep registered career-best figures of five for 40 as Bangladesh could survive only 55.5 overs in their first innings.
Pacer Mohammed Siraj (3/20 in 13 overs) deserved equal credit for his incisive spells Thursday.
