Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday heaped praise on Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill’s performance against Bangladesh in the first Test match in Chennai. On Saturday, Gill scored 119 runs from 176 balls at a strike rate of 67.61 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. He smashed 10 fours and 4 sixes during his time on the crease. Meanwhile, Pant played a 109-run knock from 128 balls at a strike rate of 85.16. His knock came to an end after Mehidy Hasan Miraz dismissed him in the 56th over of India’s second inning.

However, Gill stayed unbeaten during India’s second inning until skipper Rohit Sharma declared at 287/4.

Taking to his official X handle, Tendulkar said that he loved watching Gill score his century. The 51-year-old also praised Pant for smashing his century and said that the India wicketkeeper-batter looked “sharp as ever”.

“Loved watching @ShubmanGill glide his way to a hundred. And @RishabhPant17, despite being away from the longer format for quite some time, looks as sharp as ever. Great to see both of them in such fine rhythm,” Tendulkar wrote on X.

Loved watching @ShubmanGill glide his way to a hundred. And @RishabhPant17, despite being away from the longer format for quite some time, looks as sharp as ever. Great to see both of them in such fine rhythm!#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/FIUd1bGVmp

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) September 21, 2024

At the end of day three, Bangladesh were 158/4, with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (51*) and Shakib Al Hasan (5*) unbeaten. Bangladesh started the post-Tea session at 56/0 with Shadman Islam (21) and Zakir Hasan (32) unbeaten on the crease.

Jasprit Bumrah struck early for India in the session, removing Zakir for 33 (47 balls). The rest three wickets were picked by Ravichandran Ashwin as he dismissed Shadman Islam (35), Mominul Haque (13), and Mushfiqur Rahim (13).

The second session of Day three of the Chennai Test resumed with India at 205/3 with Rishabh Pant (82*) and Shubman Gill (86*) unbeaten on the crease. India now have a lead of 432 runs.

Pant went on to score a century on his comeback innings in the longest format of the game. On the other hand, Gill played an unbeaten knock of 119 runs from 176 balls, which was laced with 10 boundaries and four maximums.

Middle-order batter KL Rahul also played a valuable knock of unbeaten 22 runs in 19 balls, which included four boundaries.

India declared their innings when the team score was 287 runs for the loss of four wickets. They set a target of 515 runs for the visitors in order to win the first match of the series.