Gill and Pant glide and gallop on a merciless running day

As an overcast and windy morning drew to a close, the fun and games could begin. The pitch behaved, there were more than enough runs on the scoreboard. Bangladesh’s attack was beaten and broken, and with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant settled and comfortable, the sound check was complete so all their top hits could be played. The crisp arm smash, the disdainful over-the-shoulder ramp, the nimble shimmy and loft, and its one-handed cousin.

In an otherwise harmonious 167-run stand between India’s two centurions on the third day of the Chennai Test, there were only a couple of things that were amiss. The first was a mid-pitch routine between the two batsmen that saw their bats collide twice. A confused Gill revealed after the day’s play that Pant would ask for a second bat tap when he felt the first was not well timed, even if he wanted to damage Gill’s bat, which was used during the England series.

That Gill had not expected Pant’s idiosyncrasies to extend beyond his batting, despite having “spent so much time with him on and off the field”, was reflected in a rather curious fact: in 12 Tests and 13 first-class matches, Gill and Pant had never batted together before, not even three years ago at the Gabba, when they capped one of India’s greatest away comebacks with two decisive shots in the fourth innings.

Just as they were socially distanced in Brisbane due to their batting positions – Gill, the opening batsman, and Pant, the middle-order keeper-bat – these two most promising batting talents to emerge from that historic series win in Australia also suffered cruel twists of form and fate that separated their paths until this meeting in Chennai. Gill’s Test career did not get off to as good a start as hoped. He voluntarily moved to No. 3, but endured a miserable run of form over 11 innings – between the WTC 2023 final and the Hyderabad Test – averaging a measly 17.30 with a best of 36.

His failures against both pace and spin showed patterns and a Test average of just over 30 after 21 Tests raised scepticism about whether he was really being treated with leniency in this format, whether he was really suited to Test cricket or just an imposter in white. Teams can offer players long slots if they see potential but they don’t exist to accommodate players. It is the players who need to make themselves useful in the teams, particularly specialist batsmen in this Indian team which has exactly five of them.

In a crucial series against England earlier this year, Gill did just that, scoring two hundreds, a ninety and another fifty in the fourth innings with India missing several regulars. But would a six-month break until the next Test halt this dearly-earned momentum?

Then there was Pant, whose career as a cricketer peaked after brilliant centuries in Ahmedabad and Cape Town and a 93 in Mirpur before a car accident brought it all to an abrupt end, sidelining him for 14 Test matches. Would he ever make it again? Will his knees hold up to the gruelling demands of Test cricket keeper and batting? And even if they did, would he still be the same player? Almost all the questions were answered in Chennai with resounding yeses and his trademark verve.

By the third day of play, India were already 300+ ahead on a pitch that had gone flat and was at its best. Gill and Pant were free to bat to their hearts’ content. Still, no Test hundred is an easy hundred and every Test innings requires commitment. The pair made sure to play cautiously for most of the first half hour in case the overnight rains had brought the pitch back to life. After showing the bowlers some respect, they could start sending them to different stands around the stadium.

It wasn’t long before Pant was galloping past his partner and heading for a hundred. After the last two years he’d been through, you wouldn’t begrudge him a straightforward Test hundred on his return. There was some drama left, however, when Najmul Hossain Shanto dropped him on 72. It had no effect on Pant, his batting style or his antics. He hilariously suggested field placements to the Bangladesh captain. But expectations were rising as he raced into nineties, not because of his target, but because of his pedigree.

Virat Kohli, on his way to a net session at MAC ‘B’, stopped to capture the milestone from just behind the boundary ropes. The moment came with a jab at second and was acknowledged by Pant with a pensive look to the sky as the crowd at Chepauk serenaded him with tumultuous applause.

For Gill, his road to a century was more of a glide than a gallop. Before the season began, he admitted he had not lived up to his own expectations in Test cricket and hoped to change that in this 10-Test stretch. A flawless, unbeaten hundred in the second innings in the first Test was about the best start he could have hoped for. “I feel the best is yet to come. Definitely,” he said in the press conference afterwards.

Centuries on pitches like that against a dispirited opponent waiting for a decision can sometimes be overstated. But those two setbacks and that partnership are better seen in the context of what they meant for India and what is to come this season at home and in Australia. They have strengthened the identities of their No. 3 and No. 5 and brought the two Gabba heroes together for the first time. And there is nothing more fulfilling than stepping into your own ranks when you can.

“You always want the best players to play,” exclaimed Gautam Gambhir before the start of the season. At the moment, the best are not only playing, they are also in top form.