Pant raced to a 49-ball fifty, while Iyer needed 11 more balls to bring up his own half-century. (Twitter)
Rishabh Pant produced yet another game-turning knock in Test cricket, but also fell for the sixth time in the 90s, before he could reach a sixth Test century. Arriving at 72 for 3, which soon became 94 for 4 with Virat Kohli’s exit, Pant attacked the Bangladesh spinners, who’d successfully tied down the Indian top order earlier. Along with Shreyas Iyer, who overcame another short-ball barrage to make 87, Pant revived the Indian innings with a 159-run fifth-wicket partnership that came in just 30 overs.
Bangladesh recovered some ground by taking the last six Indian wickets for only 61, but an 87-run first-innings lead meant the visitors were still ahead going into the third day on a pitch that has kept playing the odd trick, even if it seemed to have slowed down a bit after the first day.
But some in the top order batted as if strokeless survival was the only way to go on this surface; only Shubman Gill departed playing a shot, choosing a pretty full delivery from Taijul Islam to sweep, and missing it.
