Dominant India tighten grip in opening Test against Bangladesh

A dominant India tightened their grip in the opening Test against Bangladesh on Saturday stretching their overall lead to 432 on day three of the contest at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Shubman Gill (86) and Rishabh Pant (82) effectively batted Bangladesh out of the contest guiding India to 205-3 at lunch on day three with their unbroken partnership of 138 for the fourth wicket.

The hosts were on the ascendancy since routing Bangladesh for 149 and claiming a first-innings lead of 227 in the bowler-dominated contest.

While their top order wobbled in the second innings as well, Gill and Pant counter-attacked to put India on course for a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.

Gill signalled their positive intent when the elegant right-hander clobbered off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz for two sixes in an over to bring up his fifty.

Pant took a more conventional approach, a single off the spinner, to bring up his half-century in his first Test since a horrific car accident in late 2022.

To make it worse, Bangladesh squandered a chance to break the stand when skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto dropped Pant when the batter was on 72.

Rubbing salt into the wound, Pant hit Shakib for back-to-back fours in the left-arm spinner's next over.