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There is rarely a dull moment when Rishabh Pant is around. If not making jaws drop with his pyrotechnics with the bat in hand, Pant keeps everyone entertained with his choice of words from behind the stumps. The broadcasters invariably raise the volume of the stump mic when Pant stands up to the stumps to the Indian spinners. It was no different on Day 2 of the India vs Bangladesh first Test at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Making a comeback to Test cricket for the first time since December 2022, Pant was at his elementary. He would feel he missed out on an opportunity for nothing up a big score after doing the hard yards in the first session – Pant was dismissed for 39 – but that didn’t dampen his spirit. He was chirpy and quirky as ever when it was India’s turn to field.
In an unusual Chepauk track that has befriended pacers more than spinners, India captain Rohit Sharma quite understandably took his own sweet time to bowl Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja from both ends, but as soon as he did, Pant’s chatter did not stop.
It obviously helped that Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep had already sent half the Bangladeshi batting unit back to the pavilion but you wouldn’t bet against Pant for keeping the stump mic busy even if India were at the receiving end.
When Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan were desperately trying to resurrect the Bangladesh innings, Pant was playing his own verbal games from behind the stumps. He didn’t utter a single word to Litton and Shakib. All he did was encourage Ashwin and Jadeja in his own way.
Sometimes it was just a “shabash” in a weird tone or a “Come on Ash bhai” with the first two words delivered in a high pitch.
His best, however, came when Jadeja was about to bowl his second over. “Jaddu bhai charo taraf aap hi dikh rahe ho… Aage pichchhe aap hi ho jaddu bhai,” Pant screamed, much to the delight of the close-in fielders.
Ashwin wasn’t spared. Different variants of Ashwin’s name, ranging from Ashu to Ashaaa, were heard, but the most amusing one came when Pant was trying to convince Ashwin to come around the wicket to Litton.
“Iske saath khel sakte ho Ash bhai (You can play with him, Ash),” he said once. When Ashwin politely declined his suggestion, Pant resorted to using Virat Kohli’s name, who had walked up to Ashwin to say something. “Virat bhai ki baat toh sun lo, Ash bhai (At least listen to Virat),” he said.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets as India bundled out Bangladesh for 149 to lead by 227 runs on day two. Bangladesh were dismissed in the final session with former skipper Shakib Al Hasan top-scoring on 32 in their reply to India’s first-innings total of 376.
The hosts opted not to enforce the follow-on and will bat first in their second innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin had given Bangladesh a challenging first-innings total with his 113 in a marathon 199-run seventh-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja.
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