Najmul Hossain Shanto dropped Rishabh Pant’s catch when he was batting on 72 runs. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
Najmul Hossain Shanto dropped a simple catch on the last ball of the 49th over to give a lifeline to Rishabh Pant, who was batting on 72 runs from 99 balls at that time.
Rishabh Pant was batting on 72 runs from 99 balls when he tried to play an aerial shot against Shakib Al Hasan on the last ball of the 49th over, but he failed to connect it properly, and the ball went straight up. It was a great chance for the visitors to break the fourth-wicket partnership between him and Shubman Gill in the second innings of the ongoing first Test at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chenani, but Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto failed to complete the catch and give a lifeline to Pant on his Test comeback for India after 21 months.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who were watching the match from the dressing room, couldn’t believe their eyes after Shanto dropped a simple catch, and their reaction to Pant getting a lifeline in the match is how going viral on the internet. Apart from them, KL Rahul was also surprised after Pant’s catch was dropped by the Bangladeshi captain.
The 32-year-old right-handed batter was ready to come out and bat at No. 6 for India, but after the dropped catch, he returned back to his seat.
Pant and Gill added a total of 124 runs in the first session of the third day’s play to help India cross the 200-run mark in the second inning and extend the total lead to 432 runs. At the time of the lunch break, Pant was batting on 82 runs from 108 balls, whereas Gill was unbeaten on 86 runs from 137 balls.
During his stay at the crease so far, Pant has hammered nine fours and three sixes for the Rohit Sharma-led side, whereas Gill has slammed seven fours and three sixes.
If Gill, who got out for zero runs from eight balls in the first innings, managed to score a century in the second, then he will leapfrog Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli to become the second Indian batter after Rohit to score five or more centuries in the World Test Championship (WTC). Rohit has nine centuries to his name in 33 WTC matches, whereas Gill, Virat, and Mayank have four hundreds each to their names.